Read it in yesterday’s TOI that India is looking forward to recruiting professors from foreign countries especially Europe. This step is mainly taken to overcome the scarcity of quality faculty in India. To attract such foreign talents, they have been offered really good pay packages & few of them have accepted the offers also.

Well, to begin with it’s a praiseworthy step and its great to know that now Europeans will come to our country for doing a job. Agreed that the quality of education will also improve if we will have better faculty. But have we ever wondered on the fact that why are we facing a scarcity of quality faculty in India? Is it really because Indian professors / teachers aren’t good and aren’t having the right talent or rather there is some elemental problem because of which there is a shortage of good faculty members in India?

Now, I personally don’t agree to the first scenario i.e., Indian Faculty lacks talent. Had it been true, they would not have been hired by the top most institutes of the world. In fact we all are aware that these days Indians are the deans & professors in some world renowned business schools & technical colleges. When Indians can make it up to such top institutes & colleges, then why are we facing this scarcity in our own country? Its not because Indians aren’t talented enough rather its because they aren’t being paid enough to survive in their own country. I know of many MBA Grads & Tech Grads who despite their interest in academic career don’t decide to enter into teaching profession because of the salary packages being offered in India. They compromise with their interest & take up some corporate job & if at all they decide to have a career in academics, they end up selecting some foreign institute where they are paid far better salaries.

To throw some light on the real scenario, I am quoting here some excerpt from Economic Times dated 21st Feb.’2006 :
A typical B-school in the US, the UK, France or Singapore offer salaries in the range of $80,000-1,20,000 a year depending on industry experience. In contrast, an IIM professor gets anywhere between $11,000-14,000 a year. “Even if we select a few candidates, there is no guarantee that they will ultimately join IIM-A. Our selection criteria matches the best institutes of the world. However, our salaries don’t,” says Professor Bakul Dholakia, director of IIM-A. His dilemma is not misplaced.

With this kind of package being offered in India, who would like to enter into teaching profession? In fact this scenario is not only for professional or premier colleges, rather in general colleges too, the professors are so underpaid & sometimes they don’t get salaries for months. Resultantly, they take private tuitions & take course to unfair means to earn their living which results in corruption & poorer quality of education in the classes.

If we can offer better packages to European or any other foreign faculty then why can’t we offer a better package to our Indian faculty? If the Indian talented faculty members are given enough financial motivation, then I am sure we will have many Indians who would not opt to settle abroad & then we need not look outside for good quality professors.

Which are the four most important communities for any country??? I think its Teachers, Police, Doctors & Defence Personnels. But the mockery is that unlike any other country, in India these are the lowest paid communities. No wonder, we are facing shortage of good & talented people in all these four communities in India.

Update: Would like to add one more excerpt here-
Economic Times dated 8th May'2006
Rs 34 lakh. Rs 4 lakh. Two figures, vastly diverse, yet closely connected. The first is the maximum salary that an IIM Ahmedabad graduate bagged this year. The second is the maximum salary drawn by an IIM-A professor under the government pay scale.

Of course I agree that these profs must be making money through consulting etc. But the point is that their salaries as profs are nowhere comparable to any corporate salary or decent salary level existing in India today.

Views on News

Indian Institutes hiring European Professors

Read it in yesterday’s TOI that India is looking forward to recruiting professors from foreign countries especially Europe. This step is mainly taken to overcome the scarcity of quality faculty in India. To attract such foreign talents, they have been offered really good pay packages & few of them have accepted the offers also.

Well, to begin with it’s a praiseworthy step and its great to know that now Europeans will come to our country for doing a job. Agreed that the quality of education will also improve if we will have better faculty. But have we ever wondered on the fact that why are we facing a scarcity of quality faculty in India? Is it really because Indian professors / teachers aren’t good and aren’t having the right talent or rather there is some elemental problem because of which there is a shortage of good faculty members in India?

Now, I personally don’t agree to the first scenario i.e., Indian Faculty lacks talent. Had it been true, they would not have been hired by the top most institutes of the world. In fact we all are aware that these days Indians are the deans & professors in some world renowned business schools & technical colleges. When Indians can make it up to such top institutes & colleges, then why are we facing this scarcity in our own country? Its not because Indians aren’t talented enough rather its because they aren’t being paid enough to survive in their own country. I know of many MBA Grads & Tech Grads who despite their interest in academic career don’t decide to enter into teaching profession because of the salary packages being offered in India. They compromise with their interest & take up some corporate job & if at all they decide to have a career in academics, they end up selecting some foreign institute where they are paid far better salaries.

To throw some light on the real scenario, I am quoting here some excerpt from Economic Times dated 21st Feb.’2006 :
A typical B-school in the US, the UK, France or Singapore offer salaries in the range of $80,000-1,20,000 a year depending on industry experience. In contrast, an IIM professor gets anywhere between $11,000-14,000 a year. “Even if we select a few candidates, there is no guarantee that they will ultimately join IIM-A. Our selection criteria matches the best institutes of the world. However, our salaries don’t,” says Professor Bakul Dholakia, director of IIM-A. His dilemma is not misplaced.

With this kind of package being offered in India, who would like to enter into teaching profession? In fact this scenario is not only for professional or premier colleges, rather in general colleges too, the professors are so underpaid & sometimes they don’t get salaries for months. Resultantly, they take private tuitions & take course to unfair means to earn their living which results in corruption & poorer quality of education in the classes.

If we can offer better packages to European or any other foreign faculty then why can’t we offer a better package to our Indian faculty? If the Indian talented faculty members are given enough financial motivation, then I am sure we will have many Indians who would not opt to settle abroad & then we need not look outside for good quality professors.

Which are the four most important communities for any country??? I think its Teachers, Police, Doctors & Defence Personnels. But the mockery is that unlike any other country, in India these are the lowest paid communities. No wonder, we are facing shortage of good & talented people in all these four communities in India.

Update: Would like to add one more excerpt here-
Economic Times dated 8th May'2006
Rs 34 lakh. Rs 4 lakh. Two figures, vastly diverse, yet closely connected. The first is the maximum salary that an IIM Ahmedabad graduate bagged this year. The second is the maximum salary drawn by an IIM-A professor under the government pay scale.

Of course I agree that these profs must be making money through consulting etc. But the point is that their salaries as profs are nowhere comparable to any corporate salary or decent salary level existing in India today.

I know, I know that I am asking a very weird question. I also know that my this post is very different from all my earlier posts. Was debating with myself, whether to put up this post on my blog or not & finally decided to go ahead with it as I always wonder on this question.

Frankly speaking whenever I watch some horror movies or any such stuff, I watch it with full enthusiasm & then later on get scared by having some bizarre thoughts or remembrance from the movie. My family members make a good fun of my this habit of getting scared esp. in darkness & I always try to defend myself by saying that no I am not scared of ghosts etc., its just that I remembered some scene from that particular movie & so got scared. A few days back I was reading in some newspaper that Mr. Bachchan (BIG B) used to get scared on the sets of his new horror movie & he used to imagine that some ghost will appear from here or there at night. It just brought a smile on my face & I silently thought, “Et Tu, Big B”!!!

I remember during my hostel life, once a hostel mate told us that she can call spirits through some planchet method & we all got just so thrilled by listening this. After that with full planning & excitement, we all gathered in one of the rooms at 2 a.m. & this girl did some this-that & told one of the girls to hold a coin. She told that if the coin will start moving then that means the spirit has come & all of us can ask one question from the spirit & whatever the spirit will answer will come true. I also don’t know how that coin start moving, maybe the girl who was holding the coin was so mesmerized & influenced by the spirit caller that she would have started moving it on her own. After that everyone was asking all sorts of questions about their result in exam, about their boyfriends, about their career, marriage & what not and the revolving spirit was answering questions in yes or no. It was really exciting at that moment of time but I can’t tell you my feelings later on. I was so dead scared in my room….ha ha ha…I used to imagine spirits in everything right from my wardrobe to the box below my bed… I can’t even describe my hallucinations of those days…hee hee hee….Finally one day I called up my mom & told her about our adventure & she scolded me a lot on believing & participating in such games. She told me that there is nothing known as ghost & no such spirits exist which can answer such stupid questions. She always prays a lot for our well being & nothing would happen to me. After getting this assurance from mom I felt better.

Well, my conscious & rational mind says that there is nothing known as ghost or spirit & such things don’t exist at all. On the other hand my same rational mind debates that if we can believe in God then why can’t in Ghost??? Maybe we want to believe in God & not in Ghost because natural human mind generally accepts & believes in such facts which are favorable & good for us.

Do really Ghosts exist or is it just one’s psychological perception??? Me still trying to figure out the same...

Just Generally

Do Ghosts Exist?

I know, I know that I am asking a very weird question. I also know that my this post is very different from all my earlier posts. Was debating with myself, whether to put up this post on my blog or not & finally decided to go ahead with it as I always wonder on this question.

Frankly speaking whenever I watch some horror movies or any such stuff, I watch it with full enthusiasm & then later on get scared by having some bizarre thoughts or remembrance from the movie. My family members make a good fun of my this habit of getting scared esp. in darkness & I always try to defend myself by saying that no I am not scared of ghosts etc., its just that I remembered some scene from that particular movie & so got scared. A few days back I was reading in some newspaper that Mr. Bachchan (BIG B) used to get scared on the sets of his new horror movie & he used to imagine that some ghost will appear from here or there at night. It just brought a smile on my face & I silently thought, “Et Tu, Big B”!!!

I remember during my hostel life, once a hostel mate told us that she can call spirits through some planchet method & we all got just so thrilled by listening this. After that with full planning & excitement, we all gathered in one of the rooms at 2 a.m. & this girl did some this-that & told one of the girls to hold a coin. She told that if the coin will start moving then that means the spirit has come & all of us can ask one question from the spirit & whatever the spirit will answer will come true. I also don’t know how that coin start moving, maybe the girl who was holding the coin was so mesmerized & influenced by the spirit caller that she would have started moving it on her own. After that everyone was asking all sorts of questions about their result in exam, about their boyfriends, about their career, marriage & what not and the revolving spirit was answering questions in yes or no. It was really exciting at that moment of time but I can’t tell you my feelings later on. I was so dead scared in my room….ha ha ha…I used to imagine spirits in everything right from my wardrobe to the box below my bed… I can’t even describe my hallucinations of those days…hee hee hee….Finally one day I called up my mom & told her about our adventure & she scolded me a lot on believing & participating in such games. She told me that there is nothing known as ghost & no such spirits exist which can answer such stupid questions. She always prays a lot for our well being & nothing would happen to me. After getting this assurance from mom I felt better.

Well, my conscious & rational mind says that there is nothing known as ghost or spirit & such things don’t exist at all. On the other hand my same rational mind debates that if we can believe in God then why can’t in Ghost??? Maybe we want to believe in God & not in Ghost because natural human mind generally accepts & believes in such facts which are favorable & good for us.

Do really Ghosts exist or is it just one’s psychological perception??? Me still trying to figure out the same...

This is exactly what you get if you aren’t SC/ST/OBC…Would like to request our HRD Minister just one thing – If you are introducing so many policies & quotas in favor of SC/ST/OBCs, then why not introduce one more policy viz., how to get converted to SC/ST/OBC??? Atleast we will not get a treatment like as shown above & at the same time it will become far easier to get admitted to the top professional institutes of the country.

Yesterday watched the treatment given by Delhi cops to one of the most respectable & educated clan of the country i.e., Medicos & was shocked to observe that they were handled in such an inhumane way – dragging, teargas, water cannons, misbehavior with girl students!!! This is what you get in a DEMOCRATIC country like India (BY the people, OF the people & FOR the people) if at all you would raise your voice against any unjustified & irrational policies issues by the Govt.

The reservation/quotas have now been increased to 49.5% from 22.5%. The reason being manifold but the most important cited is the upliftment of these classes. Was 22.5% reservation less enough for uplifting these classes??? What about the quality of students coming out of such colleges? The students who generally get admitted through reserved quotas in premier institutes find it very difficult to pass the internal exams or courses because of their weak educational foundation. Resultantly either they pass such exams with lots of difficulty or leave the courses mid-way. Now imagine 50% of the seats going to such students, that means 50% compromise on the quality of students. This will not only spoil the image of such premier institutions rather we will lose some real talented professionals also. Because of lack of suitable opportunities & seats in India, the real deserving meritorious students will migrate to those foreign countries where they will find future doors opened for them.

I also wonder, how come no other netas are finding these policies to be absurd!!! Do all of them really want the upliftment of such classes or are they insecured of losing the SC/ST/OBC votes during the elections? On one hand we claim to be a developing and forward looking country whereas on the other hand we are encouraging this caste based discrimination!!! This country hasn’t got any caste disparity, rather it is suffering from economic disparity. Gone are the days when SC/ST/OBC were the poor community. I have met so many people who belong to such community but are having a far better financial status than us.

My dear Minister Sa’ab, if you really want some reforms then do something for the ones who really need it ie., poor students. Instead of compromising on merits by introducing such caste based quotas in professional colleges, it will be better if you can provide some financial aid policies to real meritorious students who find it difficult to fund their own studies at some premier institutes. Instead of reserving the seats for them at premier professional colleges or jobs, it will be better if you can take care of their primary & secondary education so that they can have a strong foundation & can get into such professional colleges on the basis of their own merits & not on the basis of your reservations/ quotas!!!

Views on News

How can I get myself converted to SC/ST/OBC?

This is exactly what you get if you aren’t SC/ST/OBC…Would like to request our HRD Minister just one thing – If you are introducing so many policies & quotas in favor of SC/ST/OBCs, then why not introduce one more policy viz., how to get converted to SC/ST/OBC??? Atleast we will not get a treatment like as shown above & at the same time it will become far easier to get admitted to the top professional institutes of the country.

Yesterday watched the treatment given by Delhi cops to one of the most respectable & educated clan of the country i.e., Medicos & was shocked to observe that they were handled in such an inhumane way – dragging, teargas, water cannons, misbehavior with girl students!!! This is what you get in a DEMOCRATIC country like India (BY the people, OF the people & FOR the people) if at all you would raise your voice against any unjustified & irrational policies issues by the Govt.

The reservation/quotas have now been increased to 49.5% from 22.5%. The reason being manifold but the most important cited is the upliftment of these classes. Was 22.5% reservation less enough for uplifting these classes??? What about the quality of students coming out of such colleges? The students who generally get admitted through reserved quotas in premier institutes find it very difficult to pass the internal exams or courses because of their weak educational foundation. Resultantly either they pass such exams with lots of difficulty or leave the courses mid-way. Now imagine 50% of the seats going to such students, that means 50% compromise on the quality of students. This will not only spoil the image of such premier institutions rather we will lose some real talented professionals also. Because of lack of suitable opportunities & seats in India, the real deserving meritorious students will migrate to those foreign countries where they will find future doors opened for them.

I also wonder, how come no other netas are finding these policies to be absurd!!! Do all of them really want the upliftment of such classes or are they insecured of losing the SC/ST/OBC votes during the elections? On one hand we claim to be a developing and forward looking country whereas on the other hand we are encouraging this caste based discrimination!!! This country hasn’t got any caste disparity, rather it is suffering from economic disparity. Gone are the days when SC/ST/OBC were the poor community. I have met so many people who belong to such community but are having a far better financial status than us.

My dear Minister Sa’ab, if you really want some reforms then do something for the ones who really need it ie., poor students. Instead of compromising on merits by introducing such caste based quotas in professional colleges, it will be better if you can provide some financial aid policies to real meritorious students who find it difficult to fund their own studies at some premier institutes. Instead of reserving the seats for them at premier professional colleges or jobs, it will be better if you can take care of their primary & secondary education so that they can have a strong foundation & can get into such professional colleges on the basis of their own merits & not on the basis of your reservations/ quotas!!!

Just finished off the delicious, tasty & yummy “Piece Of Cake” & mmmm….I am still relishing its taste. It was simply great, so delicious & so funny. FUNNY??? Yes, funny. Arey I am not speaking of any cake from some famous bakery shop rather I am speaking of the“Piece of Cake” baked by Swati Kaushal. It was such a fun read & kudos to Swati Kaushal for coming out with such a relatable & captivating story.

Piece of Cake is about a 29 year old girl Minal Sharma who has got loads of attitude with a hyperactive conscience. Its about a girl who is struggling hard to survive & succeed in the tough corporate world without losing her ethics & morale. The best part is that the character Minal is not someone who is really idealistic, i.e., neither an extraordinary combination of beauty & brains type, nor resembling to any of those present generation very beautiful mangal-sutra, sindoor & gold clad Bollywood/ TV female protagonists who are an idealistic bahu, patni, ma, tyag ki devi & what not at their home and at the same time running a successful business empire or having a great corporate career. Minal Sharma has been given a very realistic image, a simple girl with average looks who has to struggle hard to fight against pompous people like Rana Bhatia (opposition character in the book) in her organization & at the same time facing the nuances of matrimonial candidates selected by her mother & juggling hard to find a suitable match for herself.

The style of writing is really humorous with all those satires & funny dialogues by Minal. Having worked on a similar portfolio, I found the story to be too interesting & so relevant. I was so engrossed in that book that I almost jumped out of my seat while reading the chapter where Minal realizes that her ads have been leaked, as if it has happened with me!!! Good lord, what a misfortune. But hats off to the determination & spirit of Minal that she took on everything & finally managed to prove herself right.

Swati Kaushal herself being a management graduate from IIM & with her work experience in similar field has managed to give a very pragmatic picture to the corporate world. I think it’s a MUST READ for all brand/product managers as it will give them a very true insight to a real marketing career & I am sure they will enjoy every bit of it.

Book Review · Books

Piece Of Cake

Just finished off the delicious, tasty & yummy “Piece Of Cake” & mmmm….I am still relishing its taste. It was simply great, so delicious & so funny. FUNNY??? Yes, funny. Arey I am not speaking of any cake from some famous bakery shop rather I am speaking of the“Piece of Cake” baked by Swati Kaushal. It was such a fun read & kudos to Swati Kaushal for coming out with such a relatable & captivating story.

Piece of Cake is about a 29 year old girl Minal Sharma who has got loads of attitude with a hyperactive conscience. Its about a girl who is struggling hard to survive & succeed in the tough corporate world without losing her ethics & morale. The best part is that the character Minal is not someone who is really idealistic, i.e., neither an extraordinary combination of beauty & brains type, nor resembling to any of those present generation very beautiful mangal-sutra, sindoor & gold clad Bollywood/ TV female protagonists who are an idealistic bahu, patni, ma, tyag ki devi & what not at their home and at the same time running a successful business empire or having a great corporate career. Minal Sharma has been given a very realistic image, a simple girl with average looks who has to struggle hard to fight against pompous people like Rana Bhatia (opposition character in the book) in her organization & at the same time facing the nuances of matrimonial candidates selected by her mother & juggling hard to find a suitable match for herself.

The style of writing is really humorous with all those satires & funny dialogues by Minal. Having worked on a similar portfolio, I found the story to be too interesting & so relevant. I was so engrossed in that book that I almost jumped out of my seat while reading the chapter where Minal realizes that her ads have been leaked, as if it has happened with me!!! Good lord, what a misfortune. But hats off to the determination & spirit of Minal that she took on everything & finally managed to prove herself right.

Swati Kaushal herself being a management graduate from IIM & with her work experience in similar field has managed to give a very pragmatic picture to the corporate world. I think it’s a MUST READ for all brand/product managers as it will give them a very true insight to a real marketing career & I am sure they will enjoy every bit of it.

Ritu committed suicide…Oh my god, I can’t believe this!!! Why has she done this? Was she really this weak? But she seemed so confident & so lively…Ritu was one of my professional acquaintances, with whom I was interacting almost daily. From her external appearance, she seemed to be so confident, so enthusiastic, so optimistic…always in some bright & bold outfits, always speaking of her dreams & wishes to grow in life…always speaking of her party packed & shopping filled weekends…In fact sometimes, I used to be envious of her “happy” life. I was so wrong; it was all so showy & so pretentious!!! In her suicide note, she had written that she can’t cope-up with the challenges of life & she is tired of unfavorable circumstances in her life.
Last week, read about the suicide of model Kuljeet Randhawa also. Shocking again…Then about Nadira, who was also living alone for past 30 years…Sometimes back, Parveen Babi & before that Nafisa…The list is endless…
Well, frankly speaking was definitely shocked with all these celebrity deaths because of loneliness & depression however wasn’t affected too much, but the death of Ritu has left me pondering & thinking…I don’t know how many people like Ritu must be giving in to life these days, but such celebrity deaths definitely throw lights on the fact that increasing number of people are giving in to the pressures of life these days.

For past few days, even I am feeling sad & perhaps depressed (well, don’t know if its depression or what). Not happy with so many things in my life. I am aware of certain facets of my life, which can’t be changed at all. I also know that its better to adjust with the circumstances which can’t be changed but somehow not able to adjust & not able to come to terms with the reality or maybe reality is too hard to adjust.
Apart from personal life, professionally also things aren’t very smooth. So much unhealthy competition, so much trick games, so much manipulation & so much to fight!!! Sometimes, feel like giving up all the desire to achieve something in life & live a very peaceful & low profile life. Sincerely wish for just living for the moment & not worrying about tomorrow…But can’t help it.

Day in, day out we are so much bombarded with phrases like “Strategic Planning”, “Vision”, “Goal”, “Future Map”, “Competitive Strategy”, “Way Ahead”, “Right Positioning” etc. in our professional lives that we have simply forgotten the meaning of phrases like “living for the moment”, “be yourself”, “simple thinking” etc. in our personal lives. You simply can’t afford to live for the moment & not to think ahead. If you aren’t going to rack your brain & think strategically, then you will have to really face some tough difficulties as so many people are just eyeing on you to take your position away by any means. If you aren’t aggressive, then you can’t survive only, forget about growing ahead!!! If you aren’t super confident & extrovert, you simply can’t accept it in public as in today’s age there is no place for a normal introvert person. Its better to pretend to be confident & optimistic than to accept your real self. In personal life also, you need to have so many things not only to have a proper existence rather also to meet the expectations of your peers & family. You need to have a decent job & apart from basic necessities like decent accommodation & food, these days you need to have some inevitable gazettes & gizmos without which your life can’t function at all. The earning capacity has definitely got increased but so has got the expenses. The job scenario has definitely got changed, but so has got our expectation from jobs. The living style has definitely got more advanced but so has got the levels of stress. Depression, anxiety & stress are the buzzword these days and are mostly associated with the youth. It has become as common a disease as flu or cold.

Sometimes, I really wonder on the quality of our lives. Why are so many people giving in to the pressures of life? Is it because life has become very difficult or is it because our expectation from life has changed? Is it because we aren’t able to achieve desired things in our lives or is it because we want to achieve too many things too early in our lives?

Update on 14the Feb'06 (10:07p.m.): Please note that this blog is not about death of any particular celebrity rather its about common people like us.I have left a detail comment in comments section for those who have misunderstood it to be a blog on celebrity deaths. Ritu is not a fictitous character.She was one of my known friends whose suicide had left me shocked & made me ponder over our lives.

Musings

Giving in to life

Ritu committed suicide…Oh my god, I can’t believe this!!! Why has she done this? Was she really this weak? But she seemed so confident & so lively…Ritu was one of my professional acquaintances, with whom I was interacting almost daily. From her external appearance, she seemed to be so confident, so enthusiastic, so optimistic…always in some bright & bold outfits, always speaking of her dreams & wishes to grow in life…always speaking of her party packed & shopping filled weekends…In fact sometimes, I used to be envious of her “happy” life. I was so wrong; it was all so showy & so pretentious!!! In her suicide note, she had written that she can’t cope-up with the challenges of life & she is tired of unfavorable circumstances in her life.
Last week, read about the suicide of model Kuljeet Randhawa also. Shocking again…Then about Nadira, who was also living alone for past 30 years…Sometimes back, Parveen Babi & before that Nafisa…The list is endless…
Well, frankly speaking was definitely shocked with all these celebrity deaths because of loneliness & depression however wasn’t affected too much, but the death of Ritu has left me pondering & thinking…I don’t know how many people like Ritu must be giving in to life these days, but such celebrity deaths definitely throw lights on the fact that increasing number of people are giving in to the pressures of life these days.

For past few days, even I am feeling sad & perhaps depressed (well, don’t know if its depression or what). Not happy with so many things in my life. I am aware of certain facets of my life, which can’t be changed at all. I also know that its better to adjust with the circumstances which can’t be changed but somehow not able to adjust & not able to come to terms with the reality or maybe reality is too hard to adjust.
Apart from personal life, professionally also things aren’t very smooth. So much unhealthy competition, so much trick games, so much manipulation & so much to fight!!! Sometimes, feel like giving up all the desire to achieve something in life & live a very peaceful & low profile life. Sincerely wish for just living for the moment & not worrying about tomorrow…But can’t help it.

Day in, day out we are so much bombarded with phrases like “Strategic Planning”, “Vision”, “Goal”, “Future Map”, “Competitive Strategy”, “Way Ahead”, “Right Positioning” etc. in our professional lives that we have simply forgotten the meaning of phrases like “living for the moment”, “be yourself”, “simple thinking” etc. in our personal lives. You simply can’t afford to live for the moment & not to think ahead. If you aren’t going to rack your brain & think strategically, then you will have to really face some tough difficulties as so many people are just eyeing on you to take your position away by any means. If you aren’t aggressive, then you can’t survive only, forget about growing ahead!!! If you aren’t super confident & extrovert, you simply can’t accept it in public as in today’s age there is no place for a normal introvert person. Its better to pretend to be confident & optimistic than to accept your real self. In personal life also, you need to have so many things not only to have a proper existence rather also to meet the expectations of your peers & family. You need to have a decent job & apart from basic necessities like decent accommodation & food, these days you need to have some inevitable gazettes & gizmos without which your life can’t function at all. The earning capacity has definitely got increased but so has got the expenses. The job scenario has definitely got changed, but so has got our expectation from jobs. The living style has definitely got more advanced but so has got the levels of stress. Depression, anxiety & stress are the buzzword these days and are mostly associated with the youth. It has become as common a disease as flu or cold.

Sometimes, I really wonder on the quality of our lives. Why are so many people giving in to the pressures of life? Is it because life has become very difficult or is it because our expectation from life has changed? Is it because we aren’t able to achieve desired things in our lives or is it because we want to achieve too many things too early in our lives?

Update on 14the Feb'06 (10:07p.m.): Please note that this blog is not about death of any particular celebrity rather its about common people like us.I have left a detail comment in comments section for those who have misunderstood it to be a blog on celebrity deaths. Ritu is not a fictitous character.She was one of my known friends whose suicide had left me shocked & made me ponder over our lives.

Hey in case, if you haven’t watched this movie & you intend to watch the same, then I would suggest not to go ahead with reading this post as this post reveals the story of the movie & I know many people don’t like to know the story of the movie before watching the same. I am neither a movie reviewer nor a psychiatrist or so but then too thought to write about this movie as this movie relates very well to a normal human psychology.

Watched this movie last weekend. Amazing movie & excellent acting by everyone!!! Kudos to Aparna Sen for making such a remarkable movie. Well, she has always made great movies but I really loved this movie for everything except the end. It was an open-ended movie left to the imagination of the viewers. Frankly speaking I was so deeply engrossed in the movie & was so eager to know the reality that I desperately wanted to know the end. My eagerness for a finite end resulted in some disappointment when I realized that it was an open ended movie. After all what happened to Mitthi???

This movie is about a young girl Mitthi (Konkana Sen) who is schizophrenic & lives in her own imaginative world. Her elder sister Anjali (Shabana Azmi) is a professor & divorcee. She has put her life on hold to take care of Mitthi & her mother (Waheeda Rehman). Mitthi was in love with Jojo/Joydeep (Rahul Bose) who wanted to marry her & even after several warnings from Anjali to Jojo about Mitthi’s psychological illness, both went ahead and got engaged too. After engagement, Mitthi went ahead with an official journalism assignment to some small town & was gang-raped by some political goons. Jojo left Mitthi after that as he realized that he wasn’t having the courage to spend his whole life with a girl like Mitthi. Mitthi became further depressed & her schizophrenia got aggravated. She hallucinated about being married to Jojo with five kids & living in her house “15 Park Avenue”. She is constantly looking for this address, an address that doesn’t exist at all. After few years, Jojo meets Mitthi in Bhutan where Anjali has taken Mitthi & her mother for a break & Jojo has also come with his wife Laxmi (Shefali Chaya) and two kids. He starts suffering from guilt consciousness for deserting Mitthi at the time when she needed her the most. He decides to help Mitthi find her house at 15 Park Avenue. They are searching for this house & then suddenly Mitthi disappears. The other scene shows that she has found her house & family at 15 Park Avenue. The movie ends with a scene where Anjali, Jojo & Karan (Mitthi’s Doctor) are looking for Mitthi & 15 Park Avenue…

Believe me, some of the scenes keep coming to my mind especially Mitthi’s rape because of the way they have been shown. So true, so real & so raw. The rapists after raping her repeatedly left her callously in the corridor & the way they threw her sandals over her…… it gives me goose bumps to even think of that scene. The way Konkana Sen hallucinates…it doesn’t appear even once that she is acting on screen & that she is not someone real. The end was left open to the viewer’s imagination. Well, thought & read of many interpretations to that end but none seemed to be convincing enough.

Personally by my own analysis I interpret the end as following:
I think if hallucination is the attribute of schizophrenia then, all of us are schizophrenic in nature to some extent as we all imagine for certain things. We all have got an imaginary world, which is different from our real world, & in that imaginary world we hallucinate to do such things, which we want to do but might not be able to do in our real world. Sometimes, our desire for that imaginary life becomes so dominant or overriding that we start believing in that imaginary world & forget our real existence. Maybe sometimes we want to run away from our real existence & desperately want to have a life as that of our imaginative world and if we aren’t able to do so, then for our personal satisfaction we start imagining that life strongly so much so that we forget our real entity. When this desire or urge of imaginary life supersedes the reality then it might be known as psychological illness “schizophrenia”. The same happened in that movie. Mitthi is schizophrenic & hallucinates about her married life with Jojo at 15 Park Avenue as she was madly in love with Jojo & desperately wanted to get married to her. When it didn’t happen, her dormant schizophrenic trait dominated her reality & she started believing in a house at “15 Park Avenue” which was hers & Jojo’s house & where she was happily living with her kids. The last scene shows that she has suddenly disappeared & now Jojo, Anjali & Karan are so desperate to find her that even they start believing that she has gone to some house at “15 Park Avenue” & they have also started to ask from everybody around the same address, an address that doesn’t exist at all!!! Where she disappeared is still incomprehensible to me…

Hey wait, wait…why am I imagining the end!!! Is it because I am so desperate to know the end that I have myself started to imagine an end & believe in that…Oh my god, some dormant trait of schizophrenia or what…Ha Ha Ha…Hey friends, do let me know if you can think of any other interpretation to the end of this movie!!!
UPDATE: Yesterday someone told me that the actual interpretation of the movie was that it was Anjali (Shabana Azmi) who was schizophrenic & not Mitthi. Is it really true??? Oh my God, if this is true then I think that I haven't understood the movie at all...

Movies

15 Park Avenue

Hey in case, if you haven’t watched this movie & you intend to watch the same, then I would suggest not to go ahead with reading this post as this post reveals the story of the movie & I know many people don’t like to know the story of the movie before watching the same. I am neither a movie reviewer nor a psychiatrist or so but then too thought to write about this movie as this movie relates very well to a normal human psychology.

Watched this movie last weekend. Amazing movie & excellent acting by everyone!!! Kudos to Aparna Sen for making such a remarkable movie. Well, she has always made great movies but I really loved this movie for everything except the end. It was an open-ended movie left to the imagination of the viewers. Frankly speaking I was so deeply engrossed in the movie & was so eager to know the reality that I desperately wanted to know the end. My eagerness for a finite end resulted in some disappointment when I realized that it was an open ended movie. After all what happened to Mitthi???

This movie is about a young girl Mitthi (Konkana Sen) who is schizophrenic & lives in her own imaginative world. Her elder sister Anjali (Shabana Azmi) is a professor & divorcee. She has put her life on hold to take care of Mitthi & her mother (Waheeda Rehman). Mitthi was in love with Jojo/Joydeep (Rahul Bose) who wanted to marry her & even after several warnings from Anjali to Jojo about Mitthi’s psychological illness, both went ahead and got engaged too. After engagement, Mitthi went ahead with an official journalism assignment to some small town & was gang-raped by some political goons. Jojo left Mitthi after that as he realized that he wasn’t having the courage to spend his whole life with a girl like Mitthi. Mitthi became further depressed & her schizophrenia got aggravated. She hallucinated about being married to Jojo with five kids & living in her house “15 Park Avenue”. She is constantly looking for this address, an address that doesn’t exist at all. After few years, Jojo meets Mitthi in Bhutan where Anjali has taken Mitthi & her mother for a break & Jojo has also come with his wife Laxmi (Shefali Chaya) and two kids. He starts suffering from guilt consciousness for deserting Mitthi at the time when she needed her the most. He decides to help Mitthi find her house at 15 Park Avenue. They are searching for this house & then suddenly Mitthi disappears. The other scene shows that she has found her house & family at 15 Park Avenue. The movie ends with a scene where Anjali, Jojo & Karan (Mitthi’s Doctor) are looking for Mitthi & 15 Park Avenue…

Believe me, some of the scenes keep coming to my mind especially Mitthi’s rape because of the way they have been shown. So true, so real & so raw. The rapists after raping her repeatedly left her callously in the corridor & the way they threw her sandals over her…… it gives me goose bumps to even think of that scene. The way Konkana Sen hallucinates…it doesn’t appear even once that she is acting on screen & that she is not someone real. The end was left open to the viewer’s imagination. Well, thought & read of many interpretations to that end but none seemed to be convincing enough.

Personally by my own analysis I interpret the end as following:
I think if hallucination is the attribute of schizophrenia then, all of us are schizophrenic in nature to some extent as we all imagine for certain things. We all have got an imaginary world, which is different from our real world, & in that imaginary world we hallucinate to do such things, which we want to do but might not be able to do in our real world. Sometimes, our desire for that imaginary life becomes so dominant or overriding that we start believing in that imaginary world & forget our real existence. Maybe sometimes we want to run away from our real existence & desperately want to have a life as that of our imaginative world and if we aren’t able to do so, then for our personal satisfaction we start imagining that life strongly so much so that we forget our real entity. When this desire or urge of imaginary life supersedes the reality then it might be known as psychological illness “schizophrenia”. The same happened in that movie. Mitthi is schizophrenic & hallucinates about her married life with Jojo at 15 Park Avenue as she was madly in love with Jojo & desperately wanted to get married to her. When it didn’t happen, her dormant schizophrenic trait dominated her reality & she started believing in a house at “15 Park Avenue” which was hers & Jojo’s house & where she was happily living with her kids. The last scene shows that she has suddenly disappeared & now Jojo, Anjali & Karan are so desperate to find her that even they start believing that she has gone to some house at “15 Park Avenue” & they have also started to ask from everybody around the same address, an address that doesn’t exist at all!!! Where she disappeared is still incomprehensible to me…

Hey wait, wait…why am I imagining the end!!! Is it because I am so desperate to know the end that I have myself started to imagine an end & believe in that…Oh my god, some dormant trait of schizophrenia or what…Ha Ha Ha…Hey friends, do let me know if you can think of any other interpretation to the end of this movie!!!
UPDATE: Yesterday someone told me that the actual interpretation of the movie was that it was Anjali (Shabana Azmi) who was schizophrenic & not Mitthi. Is it really true??? Oh my God, if this is true then I think that I haven't understood the movie at all...

Does anyone remember the old ad – “Arey yeh PSPO nahi janta where everyone exclaims & looks so astonished & the guy who asks about PSPO looks so embarrassed & fool…Well, every time I go to a party, I remember that ad because of the exclamatory reactions which I have to face from the people. Last week also I went to a party & again faced the same problem. I was being offered drink & I very courteously told that I don’t drink & again the same exclamation – “AREY, YOU DON’T DRINK!!! WHAT, YOU DON”T BOOZE!!! COME ON YAAR, SO OUTDATED!!! YOU ARE LIVING IN GANDHI’S AGE!!!” These are few of the comments, which I generally come across. Every time, someone offers me a drink & every time, I have to listen to one of these or similar kind of sentences. I face similar reactions in almost every party I go & if it’s a corporate party, then toh you are completely tagged as archaic, antiquated, unprofessional & what not. Frankly speaking, I think I still get to listen to lesser comments as being a female, not drinking is somewhat acceptable in India but if you are a male & if you have gone to some parties especially corporate or professional parties and if you don’t drink then toh forget it. You will not only be tagged as antediluvian, unprofessional etc. rather people will start expressing doubts on your masculinity too & will pass comments like -“BE A MAN YAAR“. The worst is that those who drink will make sure to convince others for drinking by giving some illogical & out of the world reasons. O.K. you love boozing, then carry on, why do you convince others for considering such drinks as if its elixir of life kinda drink & why do you attach some kind of weird stigma to those who don’t prefer to drink? The worst is that I find many people giving in to the pressure of such peers & friends & start drinking as they think that if they will not booze then they will be considered conservative & unprofessional. Well, till date I am not aware of any study or research, which proves that boozing enhances your intelligence or professionalism. Also not heard of any report, which testifies that if a male doesn’t booze then that means there is some serious problems with his masculinity or any formal analysis which concludes that if a man doesn't drink then he is not a man enough. Still so many people find it to be such an important code of conduct for parties.
Well, I seriously wonder if boozing has really got some connection with being modern, forward, progressive & professional? Is it really such an “in thing” which can’t be avoided at all??? Why can’t those who don’t prefer to drink accept it openly? Why do people especially males need to give some lame excuses for not drinking? I don’t want to sound like a wisdom tree but believe me, I am not aware of any of the benefits of boozing, but yes, I am definitely aware of the tremendous hazards & terrible aftermaths of boozing…

Musings

You dont drink!!!

Does anyone remember the old ad – “Arey yeh PSPO nahi janta where everyone exclaims & looks so astonished & the guy who asks about PSPO looks so embarrassed & fool…Well, every time I go to a party, I remember that ad because of the exclamatory reactions which I have to face from the people. Last week also I went to a party & again faced the same problem. I was being offered drink & I very courteously told that I don’t drink & again the same exclamation – “AREY, YOU DON’T DRINK!!! WHAT, YOU DON”T BOOZE!!! COME ON YAAR, SO OUTDATED!!! YOU ARE LIVING IN GANDHI’S AGE!!!” These are few of the comments, which I generally come across. Every time, someone offers me a drink & every time, I have to listen to one of these or similar kind of sentences. I face similar reactions in almost every party I go & if it’s a corporate party, then toh you are completely tagged as archaic, antiquated, unprofessional & what not. Frankly speaking, I think I still get to listen to lesser comments as being a female, not drinking is somewhat acceptable in India but if you are a male & if you have gone to some parties especially corporate or professional parties and if you don’t drink then toh forget it. You will not only be tagged as antediluvian, unprofessional etc. rather people will start expressing doubts on your masculinity too & will pass comments like -“BE A MAN YAAR“. The worst is that those who drink will make sure to convince others for drinking by giving some illogical & out of the world reasons. O.K. you love boozing, then carry on, why do you convince others for considering such drinks as if its elixir of life kinda drink & why do you attach some kind of weird stigma to those who don’t prefer to drink? The worst is that I find many people giving in to the pressure of such peers & friends & start drinking as they think that if they will not booze then they will be considered conservative & unprofessional. Well, till date I am not aware of any study or research, which proves that boozing enhances your intelligence or professionalism. Also not heard of any report, which testifies that if a male doesn’t booze then that means there is some serious problems with his masculinity or any formal analysis which concludes that if a man doesn't drink then he is not a man enough. Still so many people find it to be such an important code of conduct for parties.
Well, I seriously wonder if boozing has really got some connection with being modern, forward, progressive & professional? Is it really such an “in thing” which can’t be avoided at all??? Why can’t those who don’t prefer to drink accept it openly? Why do people especially males need to give some lame excuses for not drinking? I don’t want to sound like a wisdom tree but believe me, I am not aware of any of the benefits of boozing, but yes, I am definitely aware of the tremendous hazards & terrible aftermaths of boozing…

Finished your graduation??? Don’t know what to do? Don’t want to really study but still want to make money? You aren’t having any good academic record or interest in any subject but then too you want to have an entry & justify your existence in the corporate world…Well, very simple…get admission to any B School existing in the country. Nope, I am not speaking of IIMs or any other top 10 B school. Of course getting admitted to such top B schools is difficult. But don’t worry, there are easier options too...like getting admitted to B schools offering so-called “autonomous certification”, “AICTE approved certification”, “foreign degree”, “world class education” etc. All these B schools claim to be “A” category business schools in their mass media advertising. By the way claiming to be category “A” business school is very easy these days. Thanks to the n numbers of survey results being published by different magazines every alternate month. Except for IIMs & a few other known good business schools, all other surveys show drastically different results for different B schools. On top of that these business schools also show some weird benefits in their advertisements, e.g., large campus with swimming pool/gym, centrally air conditioned, excellent canteen etc. Now how on this earth a swimming pool is related to a management degree, god alone knows!!! Also what is the point of advertising about their air-conditioned campus when the students once out of such colleges will have to do direct selling of products like credit cards, home loans etc. in scorching sun. Similarly I am not able to understand the connection between excellent canteen & managerial skills. Perhaps such colleges want to satisfy the taste buds of their students by offering such food as the management of such colleges must be aware that once passed out, the students will have real difficult time to even have a normal meal in any restaurant by their meager salary. The best out of all these tactics is to write “excellent placement record”. Now on what parameters, they qualify their placement record as “excellent” is still ambiguous to me. How do they get the courage to prefix the term “excellent” before their placement record is quite wooly for me!!! The mockery is that all these “B” “B schools” (B category B Schools) charge some huge fees because of these so-called benefits offered by them & students keep on paying such abruptly high fees in hope of getting some great job with “lucrative” pay-package.

Well, frankly speaking, even I haven’t done my MBA from any of the IIMs or so. But I have done my MBA from a reasonably good institute & if I do the cost benefit analysis (fees vs. my salary), I am not having much grievances as being a university degree, my institute has charged us a very low fees. Well, I am working in a reputed organization & supposedly handling a good portfolio but if I think of the nature of job, to be very honest for initial one full year of my job, I never did any managerial or so-called “strategic” work. I did some stupid operational level & moron work only which was nowhere related to any of the papers studied in MBA. After doing moron job for almost a year & half and because of my good academic track record, finally I got the so-called “managerial role” which was still way beyond those marketing fundas studied by us in our classrooms. Sometimes, I really think as to what does MBA course teach us because of which it has become such a craze & a basic qualification for getting a job? Believe me friends, I seriously think it only teaches us how to exceed your confidence more than your competence!!!

I know that with the mushrooming growth of B Schools, it is very easy now to become a management graduate but what is happening after that? Management graduate even after paying huge fees in lakhs & lakhs to these “B” “B Schools” are doing the job of sales executives & getting a salary as good as a normal graduate gets.Few years back, same happened with Engineering & Medical courses. These degrees were craze in earlier days but because of these hundreds of private colleges in every city & donation seats in almost every college, everyone with no knowledge & intelligence started to become an engineer or doctor. The value of an engineer or doctor got so diminished that they started to work at the lowest salary possible. I think the same is going to happen with MBA also. Its high time now that the students should understand the difference between a “B School” and a “B” “B School”. Its of no use to waste so much of money in such schools in hope of getting some excellent job with some great package. In fact the Govt. should not give affiliation to any such “B Schools” which are just going to mislead the students by showing them rosy pictures of their career. Such schools are not “B Schools” at all, rather they are “C Schools” i.e., “Cheater Schools”.

Musings

"B" "B Schools"...

Finished your graduation??? Don’t know what to do? Don’t want to really study but still want to make money? You aren’t having any good academic record or interest in any subject but then too you want to have an entry & justify your existence in the corporate world…Well, very simple…get admission to any B School existing in the country. Nope, I am not speaking of IIMs or any other top 10 B school. Of course getting admitted to such top B schools is difficult. But don’t worry, there are easier options too...like getting admitted to B schools offering so-called “autonomous certification”, “AICTE approved certification”, “foreign degree”, “world class education” etc. All these B schools claim to be “A” category business schools in their mass media advertising. By the way claiming to be category “A” business school is very easy these days. Thanks to the n numbers of survey results being published by different magazines every alternate month. Except for IIMs & a few other known good business schools, all other surveys show drastically different results for different B schools. On top of that these business schools also show some weird benefits in their advertisements, e.g., large campus with swimming pool/gym, centrally air conditioned, excellent canteen etc. Now how on this earth a swimming pool is related to a management degree, god alone knows!!! Also what is the point of advertising about their air-conditioned campus when the students once out of such colleges will have to do direct selling of products like credit cards, home loans etc. in scorching sun. Similarly I am not able to understand the connection between excellent canteen & managerial skills. Perhaps such colleges want to satisfy the taste buds of their students by offering such food as the management of such colleges must be aware that once passed out, the students will have real difficult time to even have a normal meal in any restaurant by their meager salary. The best out of all these tactics is to write “excellent placement record”. Now on what parameters, they qualify their placement record as “excellent” is still ambiguous to me. How do they get the courage to prefix the term “excellent” before their placement record is quite wooly for me!!! The mockery is that all these “B” “B schools” (B category B Schools) charge some huge fees because of these so-called benefits offered by them & students keep on paying such abruptly high fees in hope of getting some great job with “lucrative” pay-package.

Well, frankly speaking, even I haven’t done my MBA from any of the IIMs or so. But I have done my MBA from a reasonably good institute & if I do the cost benefit analysis (fees vs. my salary), I am not having much grievances as being a university degree, my institute has charged us a very low fees. Well, I am working in a reputed organization & supposedly handling a good portfolio but if I think of the nature of job, to be very honest for initial one full year of my job, I never did any managerial or so-called “strategic” work. I did some stupid operational level & moron work only which was nowhere related to any of the papers studied in MBA. After doing moron job for almost a year & half and because of my good academic track record, finally I got the so-called “managerial role” which was still way beyond those marketing fundas studied by us in our classrooms. Sometimes, I really think as to what does MBA course teach us because of which it has become such a craze & a basic qualification for getting a job? Believe me friends, I seriously think it only teaches us how to exceed your confidence more than your competence!!!

I know that with the mushrooming growth of B Schools, it is very easy now to become a management graduate but what is happening after that? Management graduate even after paying huge fees in lakhs & lakhs to these “B” “B Schools” are doing the job of sales executives & getting a salary as good as a normal graduate gets.Few years back, same happened with Engineering & Medical courses. These degrees were craze in earlier days but because of these hundreds of private colleges in every city & donation seats in almost every college, everyone with no knowledge & intelligence started to become an engineer or doctor. The value of an engineer or doctor got so diminished that they started to work at the lowest salary possible. I think the same is going to happen with MBA also. Its high time now that the students should understand the difference between a “B School” and a “B” “B School”. Its of no use to waste so much of money in such schools in hope of getting some excellent job with some great package. In fact the Govt. should not give affiliation to any such “B Schools” which are just going to mislead the students by showing them rosy pictures of their career. Such schools are not “B Schools” at all, rather they are “C Schools” i.e., “Cheater Schools”.

Yesterday, I was watching an interview of a very eminent female who has been quite successful in the field of marketing & advertising. Quite impressed by her personality, I was very keenly watching her interview. Every word coming out from her mouth seemed to be so relevant, relatable & perfect. Finally the interviewer asked her few questions about her personal life and her one main answer suddenly changed my whole perspective about her. With that one answer of her, everything seemed to be so unrelatable, so distant. Suddenly, I felt that I can never become like her…Just few minutes back, I was admiring her & wanted to be like her & her just one single sentence about her personal life made me realize that I can’t be as successful as her. Well, her that one sentence was – “SUCCESS DOESN”T COME WITHOUT ANY SACRIFICE & FOR HER SUCCESS SHE HAS SACRIFICED HER FAMILY LIFE”. She wanted to move ahead in her life & after marriage she realized that her time was getting divided between work & home. Because of her demanding nature of work, she was finding it difficult to cope up & so she finally decided not to have any child at all as she never wanted to have further responsibilities. She never regretted her decision of not having a child as she was knowing that she would have never attained this success if she would have gone ahead with a child in her life.

Well, frankly speaking even I grew up in my life with some fiery ambition & big dreams in my eyes. Got married last year & suddenly the whole life changed. Not that I am some bechari si female who is being dominated by her in-laws & all that but I think things automatically got changed slowly – slowly. Time got divided & suddenly I find so many people judging me. Now, I am not supposed to perform only one role in my office & be evaluated by my boss rather I find myself to be juggling between so many roles in my life & there are so many people who evaluate me for my different roles. Very naturally, my personal time has also got splitted between two fronts of my life – work & home. I am always trying to strike a balance between work & home and sometimes get quite frustrated when I am not able to satisfy either. I really sometimes get scared by imagining the days when I will have a child as I am very much aware that a child will be onset of some huge responsibilities in my life.

I know so many females who are also struggling hard to strike a perfect balance between work & home. Even though they were highly ambitious, their career had taken back seat because of their families. They had literally burnt themselves in this so called “balancing act”. They had given off their dreams of becoming some CEO or MD or XYZ of some big company. Well speaking of me, even though I am aware of the consequences & the cost which I will have to pay, then too I would like to have a child in future as personally I think life gets completed only after having a child & family. I am fully aware of the fact now that I will have to trade off my big dreams & ambition for having a family life but then too I want to go ahead with my family life.
So many females like me just try hard to strike a perfect balance between work & home but striking a balance generally leads to a mediocre level career & a mediocre level home - maker. The moment one tries to attain something big or excellent on either front of life, the pointer of the balance gets tilted to that particular side & the other side gets neglected. So, the next step will be either to reduce the efforts towards attaining that big/excellent thing and bring the pointer to balanced position or choose any one of the sides. I seriously wonder, if there is anything known as “PERFECT BALANCE” between two fronts of life where you achieve good at both the fronts or is it always a “TRADE OFF” between the two

Just Generally

Balancing Act

Yesterday, I was watching an interview of a very eminent female who has been quite successful in the field of marketing & advertising. Quite impressed by her personality, I was very keenly watching her interview. Every word coming out from her mouth seemed to be so relevant, relatable & perfect. Finally the interviewer asked her few questions about her personal life and her one main answer suddenly changed my whole perspective about her. With that one answer of her, everything seemed to be so unrelatable, so distant. Suddenly, I felt that I can never become like her…Just few minutes back, I was admiring her & wanted to be like her & her just one single sentence about her personal life made me realize that I can’t be as successful as her. Well, her that one sentence was – “SUCCESS DOESN”T COME WITHOUT ANY SACRIFICE & FOR HER SUCCESS SHE HAS SACRIFICED HER FAMILY LIFE”. She wanted to move ahead in her life & after marriage she realized that her time was getting divided between work & home. Because of her demanding nature of work, she was finding it difficult to cope up & so she finally decided not to have any child at all as she never wanted to have further responsibilities. She never regretted her decision of not having a child as she was knowing that she would have never attained this success if she would have gone ahead with a child in her life.

Well, frankly speaking even I grew up in my life with some fiery ambition & big dreams in my eyes. Got married last year & suddenly the whole life changed. Not that I am some bechari si female who is being dominated by her in-laws & all that but I think things automatically got changed slowly – slowly. Time got divided & suddenly I find so many people judging me. Now, I am not supposed to perform only one role in my office & be evaluated by my boss rather I find myself to be juggling between so many roles in my life & there are so many people who evaluate me for my different roles. Very naturally, my personal time has also got splitted between two fronts of my life – work & home. I am always trying to strike a balance between work & home and sometimes get quite frustrated when I am not able to satisfy either. I really sometimes get scared by imagining the days when I will have a child as I am very much aware that a child will be onset of some huge responsibilities in my life.

I know so many females who are also struggling hard to strike a perfect balance between work & home. Even though they were highly ambitious, their career had taken back seat because of their families. They had literally burnt themselves in this so called “balancing act”. They had given off their dreams of becoming some CEO or MD or XYZ of some big company. Well speaking of me, even though I am aware of the consequences & the cost which I will have to pay, then too I would like to have a child in future as personally I think life gets completed only after having a child & family. I am fully aware of the fact now that I will have to trade off my big dreams & ambition for having a family life but then too I want to go ahead with my family life.
So many females like me just try hard to strike a perfect balance between work & home but striking a balance generally leads to a mediocre level career & a mediocre level home - maker. The moment one tries to attain something big or excellent on either front of life, the pointer of the balance gets tilted to that particular side & the other side gets neglected. So, the next step will be either to reduce the efforts towards attaining that big/excellent thing and bring the pointer to balanced position or choose any one of the sides. I seriously wonder, if there is anything known as “PERFECT BALANCE” between two fronts of life where you achieve good at both the fronts or is it always a “TRADE OFF” between the two

I was standing in a mob & suddenly I was pushed with a great force by the mob. Oh my god, I was just jammed between so many people. Everyone was just pushing or pulling each other. I tried to turn back & come out of the rushing horde, but it was simply impossible…Just with the push & pulls of so many hands and shoulders, I moved from one point to another & finally entered the gloomy conduit… & after that I can’t explain my exact state in words… , sooooo many people at that cramped place. It looked as if the whole city had got confined to that place. Females were just screeching & screaming at each other. They were just trying to save themselves from falling out of the channel. In order to make their way out, they were just pulling hair, duppattas or whatever they could catch hold of. After observing the whole fiasco, I desperately wanted to come out of the place but it was not at all possible. I felt that the whole conduit is moving at a very slow pace with thousands & thousands of voices floating around me. I was hardly able to stand straight over there.
Finally after sometimeI found a few people trying to move out & I also followed them. I experienced a sudden jolt & then oh lord …… everyone was pushing me, all of them wanted to come out. Some other lady’s duppatta got stuck around my neck & I was actually feeling suffocated & it was so difficult to breathe. I screamed with tears in my eyes. For a fraction of second I wasn’t able to move ahead & then suddenly because of pressure from back I fell down. I was half in that conduit & half on ground, shouting & crying but to no use. People just passed over on my hands & shoulders without thinking even once that they are actually running on a human body. My hands got badly hurt & I started shaking because of pain…but till then I never got the chance to get up from the ground. Then I saw a kid on the ground just beside me who had also fallen because of the mad crowd & he was actually bleeding from mouth. But noone was bothered & the mother of the kid was just crying & trying to pick up her child from the ground. I somehow managed to get up from the ground & I was shaking badly…
Nope, I was neither held in some riot nor at some place which caught fire suddenly. It wasn’t either any natural disaster or bomb blast. I faced this havoc while traveling in a central line local train in Mumbai. Day before yesterday, I just thought of going to Siddhi Vinayak temple & since I wanted to reach fast, so decided to take a train. Also I thought that since it wasn’t peak office hours, so the trains would be relatively emptier. But I was totally wrong. I had traveled by local trains earlier also but my this journey was the worst journey of my life. After somehow coming down at Dadar, I came to know that it was some “Ambedkar Festival” that day because of which the whole city was going towards that side. But the rush, the madness can’t be put in words. Noone was caring about what was happening to others, everyone was just rushing ahead.
I am anyways quite skeptical about traveling by local train & after that day’s incident, I have almost sworn in that I will never take a local train even if I will have to walk for kilometers. But I really feel sad about those who can’t avoid local trains because of their location of job or other reasons. They all lead such a tough & sore life over here. Riding a local train in Mumbai during peak office hours is almost like winning a battle. Not only local train, everything over here, be it finding accommodation or conveyance or any such thing is getting difficult day by day. So, many people are migrating to Mumbai because of job & career but I really wonder if the infrastructure over here is strong enough to support so many people???

Musings

Melee

I was standing in a mob & suddenly I was pushed with a great force by the mob. Oh my god, I was just jammed between so many people. Everyone was just pushing or pulling each other. I tried to turn back & come out of the rushing horde, but it was simply impossible…Just with the push & pulls of so many hands and shoulders, I moved from one point to another & finally entered the gloomy conduit… & after that I can’t explain my exact state in words… , sooooo many people at that cramped place. It looked as if the whole city had got confined to that place. Females were just screeching & screaming at each other. They were just trying to save themselves from falling out of the channel. In order to make their way out, they were just pulling hair, duppattas or whatever they could catch hold of. After observing the whole fiasco, I desperately wanted to come out of the place but it was not at all possible. I felt that the whole conduit is moving at a very slow pace with thousands & thousands of voices floating around me. I was hardly able to stand straight over there.
Finally after sometimeI found a few people trying to move out & I also followed them. I experienced a sudden jolt & then oh lord …… everyone was pushing me, all of them wanted to come out. Some other lady’s duppatta got stuck around my neck & I was actually feeling suffocated & it was so difficult to breathe. I screamed with tears in my eyes. For a fraction of second I wasn’t able to move ahead & then suddenly because of pressure from back I fell down. I was half in that conduit & half on ground, shouting & crying but to no use. People just passed over on my hands & shoulders without thinking even once that they are actually running on a human body. My hands got badly hurt & I started shaking because of pain…but till then I never got the chance to get up from the ground. Then I saw a kid on the ground just beside me who had also fallen because of the mad crowd & he was actually bleeding from mouth. But noone was bothered & the mother of the kid was just crying & trying to pick up her child from the ground. I somehow managed to get up from the ground & I was shaking badly…
Nope, I was neither held in some riot nor at some place which caught fire suddenly. It wasn’t either any natural disaster or bomb blast. I faced this havoc while traveling in a central line local train in Mumbai. Day before yesterday, I just thought of going to Siddhi Vinayak temple & since I wanted to reach fast, so decided to take a train. Also I thought that since it wasn’t peak office hours, so the trains would be relatively emptier. But I was totally wrong. I had traveled by local trains earlier also but my this journey was the worst journey of my life. After somehow coming down at Dadar, I came to know that it was some “Ambedkar Festival” that day because of which the whole city was going towards that side. But the rush, the madness can’t be put in words. Noone was caring about what was happening to others, everyone was just rushing ahead.
I am anyways quite skeptical about traveling by local train & after that day’s incident, I have almost sworn in that I will never take a local train even if I will have to walk for kilometers. But I really feel sad about those who can’t avoid local trains because of their location of job or other reasons. They all lead such a tough & sore life over here. Riding a local train in Mumbai during peak office hours is almost like winning a battle. Not only local train, everything over here, be it finding accommodation or conveyance or any such thing is getting difficult day by day. So, many people are migrating to Mumbai because of job & career but I really wonder if the infrastructure over here is strong enough to support so many people???