MyZona

Peace Elusive

2005-11-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

Logic has it that when you are subjected to extremely high levels of stress you are bound to stop caring. And that has happened. But, disappointingly, that inner peace that I was hoping would follow, well, has not. It remains, scarlet pimpernel-esque, elusive.

Continuing on the previous thread, was Gordon Comstock ever happy? I think not. A certain satisfaction, occasionally, at having done what no else dared to do, but living a hand-to-mouth existence isn’t conducive to poetic inspiration methinks. All in all, a rather addled person. But lovely book nevertheless, a true Orwellian classic. I know, I know…I am so full of it. Heard there is a movie too, “A Merry War”, now...how do I lay my hands on it???

People are Idiots

2005-11-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

They have to be. What else would explain all of us, every single one of us leading lives that we don’t want to? All the post mortems we do upon our selves (in sporadic fits of self-help book induced introspection) are bullshit. Truth is that the most popular reason for doing whatever we are doing is because someone else is doing. Or even better, everyone else is doing it. Momma told me to is a close second.
How many people really have followed their soul’s bidding to do what they truly love doing? Because it doesn’t pay is poor excuse. It doesn’t take much to get a job that pays enough to keep body and soul together and give you plenty of time to do follow your passion. Yet we get into jobs to prove our mettle as it were. Get to our Peter/Dilbert principle levels. Earn what our parents couldn’t. Buy microwaves and cars. Ambition is poor substitute for freedom.

Vent

2005-10-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Summer placements raise my blood pressure. To dangerously high levels. They have to play some idiotic game to assess whether I can do a risk analysis of a their new project. Why in god’s name would they send human f***ing resource managers to evaluate us? Why? Why? Why? Agreed they need to be sent out of town as much as possible but inflicting them upon us reveals a sadistic streak that shouldn’t ideally be found in prospective employers. In fact, to counter this proliferation of the hr species in b-school campuses in the placement season, I recommend shoot-our-hr-people as a part of regular team-building games (yes, the irony of it is not lost on me). Grrrr. Meanwhile, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, try this game

Of Moths and Parties

2005-10-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I blogged, during which time I’ve fended off end terms (oh the night mare), spent a couple of weeks fattening up at home and watching re-runs of “Caroline in the City” (Zee Café being the only channel which comes in by way of satellite television in that remote place where my Dad decided to chose employment, and the serial mentioned is the only thing that apparently comes on the channel mentioned), and spent thirty six hours traveling back to the insti, in three different modes of transport, and, more recently, broken up. Amazing how quickly these things happen. Anyways I am not here to write about the sob story of my life. I am also not going to talk too much about the party that this batch mate of mine threw last night, he had won six odd lakh on KBC(!) and we decided we all wanted some of it. Even though the drunken antics of my fellow inmates begs for immortalization. There was this one guy, who started playing the air guitar for “Smells like teen spirit” and continued for the next two songs. Which incidentally happened to be “Aap jaisa koi” and a number which had a lot of “Balle”s and “Shake it”s in it. (Helpful hint# 76 to future IIM-ers : The trick to surviving those famed parties is to grab all the booze you can and cut out before the DJ starts with the bhangra crap and, more importantly, the guys start throwing up). He then collapsed unceremoniously on the (equally inebriated) host. The best drunken antic award however going to our DJ, the alcoholic content in his blood was directly proportional to the number of times he played “Tubthumping”. I like the song, but three times in a row and you can’t jump anymore. Anyways what I am going to write about in this post is a detailed description of the interesting variety of moths and other insects in my hostel loo. On second thoughts, some other day.

The Midas touch

2005-09-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Played the Markstrat® game today. Had great fun, but primarily because no matter what we did we seemed to be the market leaders!

Arrgh

2005-08-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

Whats with these superficial classes with a “social” bent that the institute insists on inflicting upon us? Like the vast majority of people will suddenly develop a caring sharing attitude by sitting through sixty minutes of a nervous sounding anthropologist with a Phd from phoren university reading out bulleted points from a dull presentation (lady , we know to read you know?!!!). On a saturday afternoon. That she speaks with a Mallu accent doesn’t help one bit. Moral fibre is not repaired in classrooms, in fact it is torn there. Speaking of which, I thought that cogging would stop with engineering. But most of my classmates have no qualms about looking into their neighbours papers. My paper has been looked into. I don’t mind, in fact my sympathies with the guy, he should find a better place to sit.

Reading Anurag Mathur’s “Inscrutable Americans”, and wondering what the fuss about. It appears a very ordinary book. Maybe it’s the overdose of the desi in America theme but I am struggling through it. Five point someone was at least engaging.

Reservations in the private sector or a new blog entry.

2005-08-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

I am supposed to be elsewhere right now. Exercising my franchise in the committee elections as a matter of fact. They are apparently taken very seriously here. I accidentally got selected into the media committee and am having serious second thoughts. Its not something that remotely interests me. Well lets see about that. Getting back to the fact that I am supposed to be somewhere else. What if you took the entire sequence of your life as being somewhere else? Took all your somewhere else’s and made a whole new life for someone who doesn’t exist. Balderdash I seem to be writing today. My boyfriend kissed another girl yesterday. And the idiot tells me about it. And I don’t feel a thing. I have become insensate. Comfortably numb. Call it what you will.
And as for the title…I am supposed to write a 2000 word essay on that topic by this Friday. And look what I am doing instead. I wish it was Sunday again, inebriated at Pecos. In crowded, crazy but still much-loved Bangalore. Sigh. As a U2 song goes…some days have bouncers and wont let you in.

Post mid-terms

2005-08-07T02:46:00.000-07:00

Mid-terms are over. Whew. Never studied so hard in me life. And all this just to make something resembling passing grade. They say it’s a relatively cool IIM, I don’t want to know what the others are like. Well, now they are over. People breathe again. Baths are taken. Lucky shirts are abandoned in favour of less fortunate but cleaner ones. Facial hair is removed. As is hair from other areas. Infact post exams are always a flurry of depilation. More hair is shed on the day following the last exam than Thirupathi witnesses in a month. They should do research into this.

Post the first decent fag I’ve had in weeks, 5 pages into “Slaughterhouse five” and halfway through the classic “My Fair Lady” , I am at peace with the world. Won’t last but I should enjoy it while it does.

Der Anfang...

2005-07-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

A week of classes has gone by, been in this place for about 10 days now, and have failed to connect with anything or anyone here. It puzzles me, this sullen new aspect of me. I mean considering how badly I wanted to be in this place, Id expect something at least close to contentment and excitement about being here. Instead I feel nothing. I suppose I am still slightly miffed at only making it to one of the lesser IIMs. But seriously considering the preparation, or the lack of it that went into the entire process, I should thank my lucky stars I am here at all. Also the fact that I have left some very close friends behind to get here. But still, its mighty puzzling.

All the people around me are the studious types. Everyone has hit the books BIG TIME and I’m probably the only one who still doesn’t quite know where her books are in the first place. Not cramming is a bad idea, but I honestly can’t sit down and study unless I know what I am doing in this place. Actually there are studies on to prove that I can’t sit and study ever, but that’s a different story. This is a serious blog entry about my discontentment with life. Even got Floyd playing in the background.

There is a quiz on tomorrow, and that would have to be the first time on this lovely campus that I am looking forward to something. My quizzing skills are abysmal, but I nurture a strange love for quizzing. The way Vogons love poetry I guess. Sheer bloody mindedness in other words. Well, the weekend is here bringing with it another party, a photo-shoot and a visit to the city methinks. And a change of mood, god please. I’m killing the moths in my room with the murderous look that’s perennially fixed to my face. On a slight aside “Take it Back” is a great driving song. Brings back some very fond memories that song.

For starters

2005-01-16T02:29:00.000-08:00

Okie...a lil abt meself. Female, Indian, single,working backside off for a software company after an engineering degree in a completely unrelated field...ur typical techie.
Recently got a couple of calls from the very very very premier MBA institutes in the country....just attended a mock interview ...u know those conducted by one of the seven million, twenty three thousand two hundred and eight coaching centres that have sprung up between now and yesterday.
Got my ego deflated by a middle-management types who told me that my body-language was wrong, my sentence forming was negative and I had preliminary symptoms of Down's syndrome or something.. Made we wonder why I am doing this to myself ...
more in this later...I shall now go and wallow in self pity... or maybe try and get better at this, lets see how next week goes (its apparently a weekly affair)