My World!

IOMBA Class of 2008/2009

2007-12-21T02:50:00.000-08:00

Hey!

Any prospective/admitted people for the IOMBA class of 2008/2009 out there, please do drop me a line/comment here.. I would like to get to know you guys!! Lets form a group or something for common good and world peace ;-)

MBA - start to finish in 2 months flat!

2007-12-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

A brief story about my shot at the GMAT and how I got an admit in the college of my choice!

Was busy with work, suddenly got more responsibilities and added pressure just when I was about to start preparing for my GMAT. But November 15th was the deadline for some colleges, so I had to take my gmat before that.

September 07:
Started my prep in September, and began short listing schools in parallel. But I had a very clear view of what I wanted from my MBA and I had to see where I could get the best one with the minimal fuss.
Having worked in Switzerland for almost a year.. my focus was on an European MBA. I never had that much interest in the US anyway, mba or otherwise. And to go about selecting a school for myself, I thought of what all I want from an mba.
1. We can’t ignore this, how much ever we try to gloss it over; it still is one of the most important factors – the PAY you get after the course and Placement opportunities.
2. Cost of the course
3. Course specialization
4. Avg gmat and toefl and gpa etc – academics and work ex
5. diversity, strength, duration of the course

Taking these into consideration, after some help of 2 IIM profs (my mom n dad ;) ) in short listing the schools, India was never a consideration for me. Even in those colleges here that take GMAT – the avg salary is around USD20k. The World’s Least, not to mention the very famous education system which we have been exposed to for more than 20 years of our life. I decided upon a few colleges in Europe – more specifically Germany and Switzerland. And many interesting colleges had ‘interesting deadlines’ for Round1 and Scholarships. The deadline in question being Nov 15th!!!!!!!!! Holy Cow! So I went ahead and booked my gmat for nov 14th – the children’s day 

My Gmat Prep:
In the meantime, I went and got a Princeton 2008 with dvd – finished the book quickly a week or so and then was going through some softcopies of og stuff when I realized PR is just a waste… I regretted buying the book… the dvd was a total sham! (even found a way to hack the online tests ;) ). This book like many ppl already know is just a book for those who want to get out of the 550 rut (if at all there is one), not the one for the 650 and above, fgt 750 with PR!
Was doing some little bits and pieces from here and there.. a couple of practice tests, a cpl of forums. Mukul’s 770 post really helped me a lot and motivated me! Thanks Dude! And shoutouts to nairpraveenk for his wonderful thread.
Now the next thing on the list was toefl, so I booked a date on Oct 21st. I was sure that I would not need more than 2 days for the toefl and took it out of my mind for the time being.
Got an OG 11 and solved it thrice (almost) not continuously.
Did some practice tests in between – the online PR CATs, gprep, power prep, paper tests etc. Hit a sudden low on one of those and panicked and freaked out for a cpl of days then chilled out and got back my groove.
Lesson learnt: take the ups with the lows.. DONOT panic!

October:
Change of roles at work + more pressure + less prep time = lot more pressure!!
Toefl:
Got a toefl ibt book – Delta series with 10 cds – seemed the only book with so much bang for the buck and put it in a shelf and fgt abt it till the 19th.

Got a week off before my toefl and was sitting at home preparing hard for my GMAT.. tat was more imp to me than Toefl.
On the 19th started the ibt book and finished about 70% before I got bored and almost chucked it. Don’t mistake me, the book is very very good – I would recommend it to anybody. It was just that ibt seemed too easy after the gmat prep. Gave my toefl – ripped it! Had fun for a day or two. It was important for me to take these breaks in between. They really helped me reduce the stress.

Back to the schools:
To elaborate a lil bit more on the 5 points I earlier mentioned.
The mba pay in Europe is good – too good – the avg being EURO 70k !!! do the math!
The placement offers you get are in
UBS, DB, CS,BCG, McKinsey, Moody’s, Ferrari-Maserati, BMW, Porsche, Gucci, Lo’real - to name a few. Wide variety, lots of opportunities.
There are a lot of courses which donot have any particular specialization – General Mgmt, Strategy – which was wat I was looking for.
And almost all of the European mbas are a little over a year 14-16 months. You get out fast and have one year more workex and save on your living exp and course fee.
Almost all courses have a very limited class strength 40 – 50 at the max. This results in better bonding and better networking than say around 200-300 ppl in a batch! IMHO

November:

The first school on my list was the IOMBA from Uni of Geneva. I had my eye on this for quite a while now and was very much keen to get into it! But this was the one with the Nov 15th deadline.
So I got busy with the application and my oh my! I had to complete a whopping 7 essays!!!!!!
This was the toughest part in the 2 months – time running, mounting pressure, frustration abt doing your Applcn when you need be busy with GMAT. Dammmmmm!

I went and bought the Kaplan 800… supposedly the book with the toughest Qs…
Finished the book in 3 days and gained immense confidence… I can never overstress the boost this book gave me! Same with the powerprep tests :P
Seven b-school essays in something like 7-10 days is cruel… drain your energy and leave you in a jagged state of nerves.
But I backed myself up and finally it was done… finally the whole application was ready by 10th and I was almost dead!

Gave my GMAT on the 14th, nothing great to write about – missed 2 sitters in Quant – both data sufficiency. Got 650!

Sitting with crossed fingers after that till I got news about my application being selected for the IOMBA class of 08 a few days back!
Dumped the remaining 2 applications I was doing and relaxing now.
I think the things that got me the admit was my killer reco letters and my essays! i am sure about that.

If i can do it, so can YOU!!! what are you waiting for?
If this post has helped you please give your comments.

(Un)Quotable Quotes

2007-07-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

2007-07-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

WTF????????

2007-07-02T03:24:00.000-07:00

Got It!

2007-06-20T01:08:00.000-07:00

I decided to get a new cell phone (Handy in German) and guess what? I got it! The fully loaded M600i from Sony Ericsson. Well, my fourth one in as many years.

My cell phone sojourn started when I was in the penultimate year of my engg. circa 2003 with the infamous Reliance LG RD2030. It was good given the circumstances and the billing (ahem!). I used it for logging onto the internet in my hostel room where any contact with the outside world was dealt with a heavy hand and the enforcers were too dumb about the potentialities of a mediocre phone (duh!).

Next year when the huge Reliance phone fracas ensued, I was by then only too willing to be rid of that. After a few phone less months, which I spent in hunting (read researching, finding the best possible one to suit my requirements) for a new phone, I finally decided upon the Nokia 3650, one of the earliest models running the Symbian S60. The best phone I have used till date including my new one. The amount of detail that went into the phone made it a real pleasure to use (but a brick to carry).

Well, finally the 3650 gave up on me and refused to start up ever since. I suddenly got a fascination for flip opens and so the Sony Ericsson Z520i landed in my pocket. Nothing much to write home about but it served me well, actually the longest serving one till date.

Its time i changed my phone and change I did! After working on a software project for developing mobile phones, I am now totally disillusioned with high end phones and tonnes of features. But I wanted a phone which was not a routine run of the mill one seen in every John, Jacob and George's hands. The result: SE M600i.The boon to mankind! I'm just kidding. A lot of work still needs to be done on this one here.

This is one of the earliest phones to come out with Symbian UIQ3 OS. DejaVu anyone?. Whats with me and these untried and unseasoned and half cooked Symbian recipes?

Bottom line - I like the phone a lot... It has a steep learning curve, but once that is behind you, its a joy to have with the huge 262k TFT and touch screen and Office suite for editing Word, Excel and Ppts to view PDFs. To have the functionality of a PDA in just 2 mm more than the Moto Razr - I would kill for it. And I got a 2 GB M2 stick to boot. HeeeHAW!

Followers in the Far East!

2007-05-19T04:03:00.000-07:00

Hits from China???? Do I know anybody in China or even from some place which I believe is Japan? No. Not that I know of. Well... I do know a few dudes - Jet Li, Fatty Chow, Mrs. Todt aka Michelle Yeoh... but apart from these nobody else. Who ever ELSE it is, Thanks.. Keep clicking!

2007-05-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

GOD is a DJ!

2007-04-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

God Is A Dj

» Faithless

This is my church
This is where I heal my hurts
It's a natural grace
Of watching young life shape
It's in minor keys
Solutions and remedies
Enemies becoming friends
When bitterness ends
This is my church (x3)
This is my church
This is where I heal my hurts
It's in the world I become
Contained in the hum
Between voice and drum
It's in the change
The poetic justice of cause and effect
Respect, love, compassion
This is my church
This is where I heal my hurts
For tonight
God is a DJ
God is a DJ
This is my church (x3)

How very true

Of Sunglasses and Baseball Caps

2007-03-27T02:47:00.000-07:00

..............................more later

Drunk. I am.

2007-03-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

As the temperature soared to a never precedented 18C in March, people started flooding the streets. Zurich which is always as dead as it gets came to life. And how! One of Zurichs best exhibition, flaunting the best wheels in the land, the high speed revs and whopping horse(prancing?) power.

After seeing 6 Ferraris, a Lambo, 2 Maseratis, a Bentley, a Hummer and countless monster bikes and top down coupes roaring around Lake Zurich in less than an hour, surely I am drunk now!! Wooohooo!!!!

This is awesome... a great buildup to the Geneva Motor Show '07 in a couple of weeks.

Leave me alone!

2007-02-07T05:08:00.000-08:00

After a while it hits you.
Its better to shut up than open your mouth too much and anyway, all that it finally results in is you getting painted black. It doesn’t stop there. It tends to become worse, people you care for, start losing the trust, trying to take up the painting job upon themselves readily and wholeheartedly, BEYOND the call of theirs or anybody else’s duty or business, all the while trying to look almost saintly with the whole rotten thing. It doesn’t stop here either. No Sir, we still have a long way to go!
Malign. Why do I feel so connected to that word? People who are not even remotely related or least concerned abt a particular event, still want to butt in and spread the word to the whole world. Why cant they just understand and go away when they are as unwelcome as a tick on a dog, to pt it mildly.
Ppl start rummaging even profiles and friends on the internet to see wat I am upto… where does this end… is there no limit to their atrocities…
All I can do is stand up and scream JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!

Its time. Its about time!

Exhilaration of Acceleration!

2006-10-23T02:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt it?
The raw power pulsing through your body. The ethereal feeling that you are holding a beast on a leash, straining just waiting for you to let go and surge ahead. The feel of the wind on your face, through your hair, the oneness with the road rushing through the night.
One moment of this at 100+ Kmph is worth anything! The split second when you feel nothin else matters! Nothin at all!
Speed is everything! Seeing the scenery rush past with eyes straining against the wind ripping at you.
Pure Exhilaration!

-Reaffirmation-

2006-09-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

Reaffirmation: A statement asserting the existence or the truth of something.

What a weekend! Is it the best weekend ever or what? 10th of September is a day that will forever stay etched in my memory. 9/10 was a very important milestone in my life. A day that signified the completion of one month of the most exciting and beautiful journey of my life. Yesterday was a reaffirmation of all the things I believed in, all the things I wished for and all the things I hoped to achieve. This is a day that will go down as the day when everything went just perfect just as i had dreamed!

Apart from the incidents in my own life, look at it, Schumi, Federer!!! Simply Awesome! You cant say unbelievable thats because these are the guys that made the impossible possible!

It is what happened before the race which is strange. This is a world championship, which has already been decided at the table.""We have understood how things go - it has all been decided ... they have decided to give the world championship to Schumacher and that is what will be" , stupid Briatore shooting his mouth off.

"While I accept that there are people who talk about Ferrari from time to time, there is someone who talks too much and who missed a good opportunity to stay quiet, in life you need to have a little bit of class and so I prefer not to respond."

-Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo

It was with a sense of theatre and perfect timing that he announced his retirement at Monza for it was here in 1991 that he was revealed as a Benetton driver after a secret overnight 'transfer' from Jordan on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix.
An eighth title to add to the previous seven now beckons. It would be a sixth for Ferrari. But not even that will overshadow the fact that in Michael Schumacher, Formula One had not only a great driver and a great race winner, but also the greatest competitor in the sport's history.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

2006-09-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

- John Donne (1572-1631), 'Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions', Meditation XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Dicunt, Morieris:

Aint that too GOOD?

2006-08-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

Can u spot Zidane there??? Yeah baby! Schumi Scored a goal against Zidane!

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

2006-08-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

(Peter Windsor – F1 Racing) Kimi, I’m sure you’re aware that, as a result of the seventeen laps you led in Hungary, McLaren Mercedes, for the first time this year, have now led more racing laps than the Mercedes safety car driven by Bernd Maylander. I just wonder how you see that battle developing in the remaining races and how strong McLaren will be versus the safety car.

KR: Hopefully we can beat them. At least it’s the same company so it doesn’t really matter but we will see what happens.

- Thursday FIA press conference, Istanbul GP

I knew it!

2006-07-26T03:02:00.000-07:00

You Are Whiskey

You're a tough drinker, and you take it like a man
That means no girly drinks for you - even if you are a girl
You prefer a cold, hard drink at the end of the day
Every day, in fact. And make that a few.

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?

Michael Schumacher

2006-07-16T23:19:00.000-07:00


Michael Schumacher - Why they call him the Rain Master !!

Michael Schumacher For Life !!

2006-07-16T23:18:00.000-07:00


One Man,One Passion, One Life ! Michael Forever

2006-07-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Runway9

2006-06-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

The Code Warriors!! Laser Combat at Runway9

The Frag Master - Max Kills - Thats Me!"

The Black Cat - Manda

Our Group Head - Venkat - Patton

My PM - Vandana and Karthik on the side

The High Tea

The Final Shot - Wipro-Qualcomm Team

The Raven

2006-06-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

by Edgar Alan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow will he leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'
But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

2006-06-11T23:53:00.000-07:00

Can any Sunday (Jun-11 '06) get blacker than this???

This was the day that promised so much. A whole afternoon jampacked with action - F1, Tennis, Foot Ball, Cricket, you name it! The F1 race, the Silverstone GP could very well be the turning point in this championship with a Schumi victory, Roger Federer will be bidding to join an elite group when he takes on Rafael Nadal in one of the most eagerly awaited matches in men’s tennis in Sunday’s French Open final that is reeking of records and history. (full story here)

Alas! Woe betide! It was not to be. Schumi trailed Alonso to the chequered flag and the great FedEx still left in quest of his Roland Garros win!

I'm poor Ben Gunn, I am.

2006-06-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Just in case you wannna know more about poor Ben Gunn, click HERE.

I'm a poor Software Engineer, I am! (or am I?); poor I definitely am, but a Software Engineer?? hmm... needs more thought to it... feel more like some automated script which you right click and select Run every morning and hit Stop late evening than an Engineer who uses his brain and thinks innovatively, the byword of the company I work for! The only innovation I am allowed is in making my cup of Coffee, heeheeehee-haw haww. Enough of the guffaw.

Some great man, I believe it was Tolstoy, who said "Nothing constant but change", sure he is true, but if he ever was a s/w engg, he would have "torn his hair in despair" in keeping track of all the changes and maintaining the versions.

So putting to good use whatever S/w engg. terms and gibberish ( The thesaurus gave me a choice of selecting one from terminology, vernacular, jargon, lexicon, concordance, parlance and gibberish) thrown at me for the past one year(nearly); Lo and Behold! the Changelist/Revision History (wtf???) of my blog!!!

/***********************************************************************/

/***********************************************************************

EDIT HISTORY FOR BLOG

This section contains comments describing changes made to the module.

Notice that changes are listed in reverse chronological order.

A few misc changes here and there
Added a Tag board
Added links to a cpl of friends' blogs
Blogger photos now dont have a link(most of them)
Links now open in new windows(most of them)
Kept changing banners for the blog.
Was pleasantly surprised when I actually got paid by google... $0.05... wow! soon becoming a millionaire!
Signed up for AdSense just to see what ads google can throw up on my blog!
Experimented with counters
Removed all crap like "Email Me" Feeds etc...
Tweaked my template
Brushed up on long lost html skills
Found a new template
Searched high and low, hill and dale for a new template.
Got a new blog
Lost the blog!
Created a blog with some default template.
Signed up with Blogger.

************************************************************************/

So finally,

Fifteen men on the Dead Man's ChestYo-ho-ho,

and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had done for the rest

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Up, Up 'n' Away!

2006-06-05T21:49:00.000-07:00

Doctor Foster

Went to Gloucester

In a shower of rain.

He stepped in a puddle

Right up to his middle

And never went there again!

No, its not about Foster that we are concerned. The Doctor in question here is Rossi, Valentino Rossi. He didnt go to Gloucester nor did get wet in rain, he went to Mugello and set the track on fire!

Guess who?

2006-06-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

"It was very impressive! Impressive is about the only word I can find at the moment," smiled Schumi, a keen street rider who has already piloted a Desmosedici there (Circuito del Mugello) during private tests, just to satisfy his own curiosity. "It was a very special experience, obviously very different to what I'm used to, different even to riding here on the Desmosedici last winter. On a bike you feel the speed more, you feel the machine moving around more, which is very different from a car, when you're inside and feel more protected. Plus, when you are riding with someone, you don't know what's going to happen and that makes it very interesting!"

"The fact that I wasn't in control was what made it particularly impressive," explained Michael Schumacher. " I patted Randy on the back a couple of times to remind him that I've got the Silverstone F1 GP next week! It was a spectacular experience but now I have ridden a MotoGP bike myself and ridden the two-seater, I think I have done enough, I'm not planning to become a bike racer myself!"

My Notebook - HP Pavilion dv1376tu

2006-06-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

After using my laptop for nearly three months now, I think I am ably qualified to give a very knowledgeable opinion/review/critique/whatever about it.

Some where in the fall '05 my old desktop gave up the ghost and conked out on me. The end was inevitable for it had been behaving not unlike Napolean during his exile on the island of Saint Helena (2800 km off the Bight of Guinea), who, it is believed to have been subjected to a gradual poisoning by Arsenic. But wait, I digress...

The point here is about my old comp and not about Napolean. Onward.

So, after its eventual demise, it was only natural that any effort and expense on my part to bring it back among the alive 'n' kicking would only suffice in proving the Law of diminishing returns. Putting 2 and 2 together I decided to get myself a laptop and began scouting the market for the perfect PC to fit my bill.

My requirements were

1. Small and lightweight. Ideally 5lbs or less.

2. DVD writer

3. A good processor

4. Atleast 512 Mb RAM

5. >60Gb HDD

6. And all the usual blah about the heat, looks etc

After a long search, I found HP dv1376tu, the boon to mankind!

1.8ghz Centrino Processor
512mb ram (512x1)
WinXP Home
80gb 4200rpm HD
LightScribe, Dual-layer, DVD+/-RW
Brightview Option
Intel 2200 b/g wireless w Bluetooth
6 cel battery
Remote Control - yeah baby!!
A pair of earbuds - not johnson & jonson Duh!!

Game Playin, bein the major gaming freak that I am, is the only thing (mostly) I do with my laptop. And if you are wondering(even if u r not... I dont give two hoots) what my 80 Gigs is filled up with, here goes a sample...

1. Indigo Prophecy

2. GTA - San Andreas

3. GTA - Vice City

4. NFS - Underground

5. NFS Most Wanted

6. Counter Strike

7. Max Payne, Hitman Contracts, Quake and Unreal Tournament (The last and also the BEST!!)

All in all, this is the best Laptop I've ever used. I have used both the Thinkad and the famous Compaq V2000, but i can assure you that they come nowhere close to the dv1000!

Hooray!!

2006-05-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yaaaaaahoooooooooooo!!!

Let the Holy Grail go to the dogs!!!!

I've got my passport!!!!!!

Yippeeeeeeee!

My Quest for the Holy Grail...err no.. the Indian Passport!

2006-05-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

Minimum Requirements to proceed further:

1. Rudimentary knowledge about the myth of the Holy Grail, and no, Grail is not something owned by Google.

2. Some idea about something known as a Passport. 3. Last but not the least, an IQ greater than a tomato!

The Holy Grail is a sought-after, elusive, all-but-unobtainable goal for a person, organization, or field to achieve, in this case the party in question being none other than yours truly. For this concept to get into your skulls better think of perpetual motion or anti gravity or a polynomial time algorithm for NP complete problems - just couldnt resist(complete list here), or a proof of its non-existence are sometimes characterized as the holy grail of applied physics and computer science. For somebody like me who is not much into solving NP complete problems while hanging upside down perpetually on some an-tie(american style) gravity planet, the quest for the Holy Grail involves, yes you might have guessed, that is if you satisfy Min Reqs. 2 & 3 specified above, obtaining a passport! Is it so much to ask? Yeah, it is! I found out the hard way. The Indian Passport site gives you tons and tons of info about how one CAN get a passport. My post here describes in detail how one CAN NOT get a passport. A little more background correlating the Grail and my passport. The search for the Grail became the principal quest of the knights of King Arthur. It was believed to be kept in a mysterious castle surrounded by a wasteland and guarded by a custodian called the Fisher King, who suffered from a wound that would not heal. His recovery and the renewal of the blighted lands depended upon the successful completion of the quest. Equally, the self-realisation of the questing knight was assured by finding the Grail.

Coming to the present day scenario, I think the Knights in the olden days would have had it easier than me to find the damn thing! Granted, I knew where the "Mysterious Castle" aka the passport office existed and I do know that the mysterious King Fisher is none other than the RPO, the Regional Passport Officer, but my quest for a passport lasted all of 22 years of my life on earth. I had almost given up when one fine day (could have even been a not so fine day, I dont remember which) my PM (Proj Mgr not Prime Minister duh!) sends out a mail telling all of us to apply for H1 visas ASAP. Now as you might have guessed it, I was in the soup. The events unravel thus.

Self(walking upto my PM): Ahmm.. mmm..

PM: yeah...

Self: Mm.. Amritha** I have a little problem(my favorite opening line)...mmm...

PM: Problem? ya..tell me....wats it???

Self: Its regarding the visa mail you sent out...

PM: ok.....("now get on with it" look on her face)

Self(sheepish smile): Well... I DONT HAVE A PASSPORT!!!

PM(aghast, startled, alarmed and finally stricken look on her face): WHAT????

Self(yeah baby, you heard it right look): yes...i dont have one

to be continued soon....

**Names have been changed to protect the innocent and also the guilty

Cut to size!

2006-04-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

An update....reg the status of my hair... GOT MY HAIRCUT FINALLY!!!!

The shortest cut in my life!! actually the barber dude was more affected than me... at one point I had to cajole , plead and finally threaten him to cut the damn growth!

Well... my moms Bday comin up in a coupl of days and being the dutiful son that I am, forgot to buy her a present... so I decided that she wouldnt like anything more than me getting my (uncouth, unruly,dirty...her description) hair cut.

But all of you who know abt my (in)famous LUCK, if u are thinking that the story is over.... unfortunately, no is the case.

I go home after quite a long while and expect everybody at home mom, dad, grandma, hordes of cousins, aunts et al... to scream at my sight (in delight). wat i get is a cold "how come u r so late?
wassup with the flowing beard?" this particular thing in question was nothin more than a few days of unshaven bristle....Geez!

And the final straw was my mom asking me (repeatedly) wheres my Bday present!!!!!!!!

Return of the Doctor!

2006-04-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

Qatar - GP. Thats where seven time world time champion Valentino Rossi ruled the circuit. The Doctor is back where he belongs, the top step of the podium!

Shoot the Dog!

2006-04-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Why cant the senile, geriatric, schizophrenic, fossilized fish keep his ridiculously idiotic thoughts to himself and his big wide mouth fuckin shut! How can any one compare Alonso with Schumi -the God of F1 - (heeheeehee hooohohhooo). There is no comparison what so ever!

Put this fool out to pasture and shoot him!

The Long and Short of it

2006-04-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well, after keeping at it for close to seven months, I am now in a dilemma, not Nelly style but still…
To cut or not to cut-- that is the question. A very tough decision considering on one hand, the worst insults thrown at me by the best of friends, the most appalling comments ever to be made by any parent on a son while on the other hand the encouragement, the support (moral and otherwise) given by lotsa other friends to continue growing it.

Now after seven long months (including even Feb) of growing my locks with great determination and perseverance against my fickle mind, it looks like my fickle mind has won it. Lets wait and see what happens.

FAILURE is the stepping stone for SUCCESS

2006-04-06T01:43:00.000-07:00

Ha! What a misconception!
This is like almost saying that failure is a prerequisite for success and no success can be achieved without prior failure. Why the heck are ppl so pessimistic. The very essence of achievers and outstanding leaders that differentiates them from the multitude of sheep all around is Success. Success in the first attempt, thats what it takes!

Adios Gringo!

2006-01-12T03:13:00.000-08:00

Well… to add to the whole lot of tear dripping “yaadon kee baaraat….” stuff below…

All I can say is tat some of the best moments I’ve had in my life were during the 4 years spent in SVCE, in Chennai….seriously..
F**k it!! I was still a kid before tat!
Right frm the first year when we were still feeling each other out..(puhleese not phantom style) I meant mentally, intellectually.. to the second year when the group actually got together in the corner class room in Marine block.. beating the sh*t out of Messer/s. Shankar, Muthuraman and sailaja and last but not the fking least Mari, the runt with a book! The nogood data entry operator!!!
And one of our (now) crazy brainchilds(ren) was “Distortion” a.k.a. Wildthings… the name for our group and for which mithi had lot of plans like givin out Id cards etc…
The only wildthings among us were P.S Sandeep and Aneesh… who were the real rebels. It was a great one to watch the PS vs Mari &Co and Mr.Aneesh vs Shankar events..
At this juncture it is a lil too early to give credit to the deeds of the Great Mithi – Sohail duo which single handedly saw to the downfall and defamation of MOFO Mari.. but still…
And the brave Pink Panther style adventure of UK-The-KK which resulted in no DSP classes for two weeks… yeah.. I’m talking abt the Case Of the Missing Notebook..
And special thanks to kiran and shanky for giving their active support and cooperation in the 4C case….
And comin to the third year , the year of the Blore - Ooty I.V. .. it was a trip of ‘firsts’ for many of us.. it was totally awesome!
And final year…. As u all know was by far the best and wildest of all.
We had a lot of fun and kicked some serious butt!!
S-101 was the place to be… call it wat u want.. skumole shack wateve…
From our so called Proj Meetings to the daily night parties… wat am I talking… wat night?? F**K it!! We didn’t give a damn if it was night or day!
The 40km route from Anna ngr to Qwikys me and mithi discovered.. (beat tat)!
The preachings and teachings of the Master UK shall prove to us in good stead!
Finally one thing we’ve learnt is tat “I can be a Superman…. Saturday to Sunday Monday..Monday to Sunday YO!!!!”

And comin to the personal and individual abuse… here we go!

kiran :

Wat can I say abt u..
Ur pants are always loose…
the worst pervert in the world… anime, animal, sushi u name it!
terrible at rap battles!
To all the insults we threw at each other.. to all the coding we did together… I ‘ll miss you…

Mithi:

Gimme a sec..lemme copy paste the stuff frm ur orkut testimonial…

1. He is the flattest flatfoot to be ever born.. even in computer games... bigtime sucker in GTA-VC
2. The worst biker on the planet.
3. Trust me, with him around u can never get "high" on booze.. he is one crazy armchair lecturer shithead u can ever find!
4. Reads all lame ass shit like hadley chase and mary clark higgins and yeah wats tat dicks name?? some mentor my foot!
5. Can very well be the author of Beginners Guide to Insanity!
6. Die hard fan of Bob dylan, ray charles and cos of my influence and insistence and persistence - HipHOp.
After all this ranting and raving... All i can say is..Through thick and thin... through scrapes and blood.. through bikes and beaches...through bitches and booze we've seen it.. we've done it!and we shall keep doin it! we're CHAIN SMOKERS mamu!!!

Shank:

Well…. This is the best part…. YeeHAAAW!!!!
It was a big pain hauling ur big fat ass frm all over Chennai back to Kodambakkam… but being the true friend that I am… I did it with a “song in my heart and a smile on my lips”…
and right now I don’t need to cry abt not meeting you and all that….
to many more movies at skyline!!
actually I cant think of anything much… too much of any literary effort has a big effect on my nerves… so shall post more in the near future..

and reg the email ids… dunno much myself… check out the recipients of this mail…

Regards,
Ravi Shankar S

______________________________________________________________________

From: Shashank Ramineni
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 3:18 PMTo: kiranvenkatesh; mithileshraj; Ravi Sreenath Subject: have a good life brothers

hi kiri,

i dont know when will we will meet again -how long it will be.
I just didnt feel like speaking much when i called yesterday and u were in the airport filling up some form.
Both Ravi and me were feeling like really bad yesterday(and i am sure mithi did too) - things hvae changed so permanantely and my mind jus seems to be going back to the scene in Dil chahta Hai - the one i told u about - (all those 3 jokers are sittin in Goa-(where we planned to go but never did)- at some castle and starring out at the vast sea and its infinite horizons )Akshaye khanna says- " We are like that ship ,soon we will be setting out in search of our destiny and we will disapear over the horizon.Forget coming to goa every 6 months ,meeting even once in 6 years is gonna be hard ".

Well our own lives have reached that point - i and ravi have moved out here - u r leaving and dissapearing over the horizons and mithi is alone in chennai. Its i guess inevitable but its very hard when u get all nostalgic like i think all of us are feeling this week - even that rascal ravi !!!!

We - u , me , ravi and mithi have shared some great moments over the past few years - u guys beeing there have made them special (This is a bit melodramatic but i want to say it - hey ravi dont smirk) . I guess i am really glad we had the times we did with each other.I am also glad we caught up on monday - i think we spoke for an hour . i spoke with mithi too on tuesday and it felt good.

A few words to sum up all u guys individually:

kiran : Late , always late , a horrid 'fashion' sense, exteremely nice , 'me want more mass' , always rushing to buy coffee powder and chilli packet, affable and one of my greatest freinds and has a great laugh -Haaaheah ? ravi can do it better - love u brother

Mithi: wild , wild and wilder , "i wore a jean for a few months non-stop" , a wild beard , lately deep in philosophy - we have hade some interesting discussions , Qwiky's - thou my world, a very diffreent approach to life , a bit lost of late but will find his destiny
- love u brother .

Ravi : "all girls are looking at and r in love with me"- only confirmed mental case-a certain '****' , skumole shack , where r the drinks , mad dog, good freind - love u brother <>

ShaNK: U all shoud tell me - ravi dont blow ur head.......

get back with ur comments....please

I told ravi about the above scene in 'dil chahta hai'- and he reminded me that in the end all the freinds do finally get togehter .
I like that - and i hope we also do ,somewhere down the line. dude kiran - i am joining ORKUT because i dont wanna lose touch with u - so do join up and keep in touch.

I wish all of u guys the very best

ur brother ,

Shashank Ramineni

2004-2005 Final Year in SVCE

2005-12-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

Our Final Year in SVCE is the one most indelible year in my memory. Quite a few big league events occured. One thing was getting placed into Wipro. This happened just around 2-3 weeks of starting the semester. Well after that it was a party all the way!

... back then...

2005-12-20T23:07:00.000-08:00

As I sit back and reminisce about the 4 years in SVCE, it now appears that I am actually missing it! But I cant say the same thing about a few characters back there. Well... SVCE was quite a good place. God knows if I will see it again! The canteen was bad, the food was crap, bus cramped.. Yet have some very good memories of the place!
Made quite a number of good friends, some special ones, and had a whole lot of fun! All the parties we used to have, all the classes we used to bunk! all the profs(if u can call them that) we pissed off! Priceless!
One unforgettable person who haunted me in 3 out of the 4 years was Mr. Mariappan. With all due regards to him, it was not his fault that he acted like the way he did. You cant act any better if you had an IQ lower than a maggot and an intellect worse than a brick! Bloody fool was SHOCKED that I had cleared my DSP paper in revaluation. He was the chief valuator or some fool like that and he had made sure that only 2 out of the hundreds who had applied for revaluation would clear the exam! That cheap shit couldnt digest the fact that I managed to clear it!!!! Well thats tat.. and spending any more time on him will be a criminal waste!
Shoutouts to all you guys who made my 4 years in SVCE very memorable and worth reminiscing and writing about!!

And to all the members of the so called DISTORTION , in case you ever see this... well WE were the best!!

Blogs of the Bard!

2005-12-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

Geez!! I was going through some blogs of my old college mates and what do I see, people exerting all their literary abilities to the limit, seemingly trying for the Booker or something! whew!! Guys a blog is where u can rant, rave and ramble.. why all the crap about "wax eloquent" etc.. why the f*** do u wanna show off !

A beautiful mind

2005-12-19T04:06:00.000-08:00

We are so programmed from our childhood to follow norms, conform to conventions that we never realize that we unconsiously mould ourselves to be an accepted member of the "society". No doubt all these rules and regulations are very essential but we must understand that these are not supreme. The fear of questioning the system weighs so heavily on the mind that the very idea of violating it or non conforming to it doesnt even occur.
There would be no change if there were nobody who dare to think beyond the societal cocoon. They are the Radicals. The people who dont give a damn about the ridicule, the non belief and the lack of enthusiasm and encouragement from the weak and the lazy and the foolish around them.

Test blog

2005-12-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

Hi!
hope this works!