The Analytical Engine

Testing Flickr badge

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:09:00 +0000

www.flickr.com

IIM Ahmadabad, 2008-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Exactly a month back, the Indian Institutes of Management announced the results for their flagship 2 year Post Graduation Programme.
I made it to IIM Ahmedabad. I will be writing about my experiences at IIM A, once the classes begin, mostly on this very same blog.

B-School fee Hikes will affect Entrepreneurship

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:01:00 +0000

Many of the Indian Business Schools have planned for fee hikes, some like IIM-A by as much 200 Percent. One of the areas that gets affected due to this is the reduction in the number of people opting out placements in order to start their own venture. Here is how they are linked.

1) A fee hike would mean that a bigger loan needs to be taken from the bank.

2) At the end of 2 years when the time to start repaying the loan comes, you need money, and entrepreneurship ventures would take some time before they start to generate revenue.

3) A salaried job, on the other hand allows you to start repaying your loan immediately.

4) Hence, people would be a lot more cautious before opting out of the placement process.

IIM-A, lst year, had about 10 people opting out of placements to start their own venure(s). It will be interesting to see how many do so in the class of 2008-10 (the first batch to bear the brunt of the steep fee hike)

Photography Enthusiasts, Please Note

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Sakal is organizing a Photography Contest titled 'Reflections 2008'
Check out this link for the registration forms and more details.

India - South Africa 3rd Test - A Sham

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:45:00 +0000

The Recently concluded 3rd test match at Kanpur was a total sham. The pitch had begun to crumble from Day-1 itself and had become what the media calls a 'dustbowl'. Under such pitch conditions, India with their decent spin attack were going to win without any doubt.

I remember a similar incident a couple of years back, in a test match between India & Australia at Mumbai. A similar dustbowl situation prevailed and India clinched the match within 3 days. Ricky Ponting was rather cross at the pitch conditions and complained to the authorities who din't obviously encourage it.

In my opinion, Graeme Smith should have complained too, rather than just saying 'India played well and so on...'. Indian fans & their team may be happy to win but look at the uselessness of it all. Nowhere in the world are you going to play on such bad pitches. It is not without a reason that we struggle when we go overseas because we have simply never created similar contions at home, not even for practice's sake!

I wonder how a India-Sri Lanka contest on the same pitch would have been. I would put my money on Sri Lanka if Muralidharan was playing.

Reservation in Educational Institutes

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:30:00 +0000

If you are one of the many aspiring for a Government Institute (IITs & IIMs included), this news has got to hit you. There is now a possibility of upto 49.5% reservation in these institutes.

The reservation percentages first,
Scheduled Caste - 15%
Scheduled Tribes - 7.5%
OBC - 27%
Physically Handicapped - 3% (not compulsorily)

3 of them existed before, OBC is of course new.

What are the implications? Clearly lesser seats in the General/Open Category.

The problem, accordining to me, is that reservations for certain classes is in itself not bad, provided the correct class of people benefit from it. Instead of reservations based on Caste, there ought to be reservations based on Financial standing, for the financially underpriviledged would not get enough opportunities in education as compared to his wealthier friends.
Also, reservations must be in Primary Education so that the problem of equal educational opportunity is solved at that level. Now obviously, reservations work best in Government institutes, but many Government run schools in India are nowhere as good as their private run counterparts (simple reasons include low pay for teachers in Govt. Institutes)
But, the reservation needs to be tackled at that level.

How would the Govt. go about identifying the financial standing of individuals in a country where majority of the people show a wrong income to pay lesser taxes? (exclude salaried persons here)
So, you see the problem in hand.

What could be a good action plan,

1) Plan for reservations based on financial standing of the individual
2) To genuinely identify the needy, come up with stricter laws for frauds in showing incorrect income (how does 'teen gunaa lagaan' sound ;))
3) Have reservations for the identified people in Govt. institutes of Primary Education
4) Improve quality of such institutes by paying well to attract good teachers (you have more money now that people are being made to pay taxes in full)
5) Once you do that, by the time students enter their graduating schools, they are at the same level in terms of education opportunity
6) Now you can afford to not have any reservations (at all) at the graduate levels and higher. Entry to institutes is purely on merit from this stage onwards.

The outcome of this is, everyone gets equal opportunity in education upto some point after which he/she has to let his performance do the talking. Surely seems a better option than what is being followed now.

Indian Classical Music & Running

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Have you ever listened to a complete piece (a full raga) of any Hindustani Classical Music? You might have observed that there are roughly 3 parts to a piece, viz, the Alaap (setting up), the body, the trail off towards the end (exceptions exist).
This compares well with Running. How? Note the similarities.

Music - Running
Setting Up - The Warm Up Run
Body - The Actual Fast Run
Trail Off - The Cool Down Run

Just as fast running without adequate warm up is not good for the muscles, in music, starting off with the body directly isn't pleasing to the ear.

I have observed this 3 part approach to music with respect to the Flute (Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia) and the Santoor (Pt. Shivkumar Sharma). Have you come across this approach someplace?

IIM-L GD/PI Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 07:00:00 +0000

GD Topic :
'People who work sitting down earn more than those who workstanding up'
30 Minutes to write an essay on the topic and 15 minutes to discuss it

PI :
1) Why do you like Pune over Chennai?
2) What do you do at work?
3) Are you comfortable with your graduation specialization?
4) Explain Electronics to a layman
5) Difference between a Calculator and a Computer?
6) Is a computer an electonic, electrical or mechanical device?
7) Latest news on U.S. Elections
8) News on Unearthing of old 'Lanka' in Sri Lanka(I could not answer this one, had no clue)
9) What is Angkor Vat?
10) Capital of Portugal?

Thinking Goa? Try Konkan instead!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:30:00 +0000

Everyone knows 'Goa' but what makes people want to spend their holidays there? The Beaches? The Booze? The Bikini clad tourists? Or a combination of all the 3 Bs?

But, if you are looking to explore the more beautiful beaches on the western coast, Konkan is a better bet. For Starters, The Konkan Coast is longer than the Goan Coast, and also the variety of beaches in Konkan is more than what you would find in Goa.

Add to this the sparse crowd on the Konkan beaches and you get one step closer to that utopian holiday at the beach. The accomodation at Konkan does not burn a hole in your pocket either, unlike Goa.

Yet, despite its superior features, Goa beats Konkan by a long way when it comes to the volume of tourists it handles. One reason being that the Maharashtra Government does not promote tourism at Konkan, while the Goan Government is extremely aggressive there. As a consequence, few outside Maharsahtra have even heard of Konkan.

But imagine for a moment, that Konkan does get popular, and tourists do pour in large numbers. Wouldn't that destroy the calm, unpopulated atmosphere at Konkan? Sure, revenue from tourism will go up, infrastucture in terms of roads, facilities, will get a definite boost, but surely the charm of Konkan will fade away.

I for one wish that Konkan stays as it is, scenic, beautiful, calm and largely unexplored.

Revival : A new life

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 08:15:00 +0000

After 11 months of hibernation, I have decided to revive this blog. The Analytical Engine will be switched ON again.

P.S. I finally figured out my password ;)

Adarki, again!

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:30:00 +0000

A trip report:

What? Adarki again! pretty much sums up my Mom's reaction when I broke to her the plans of yet another trip to Adarki, located 109 KM from Pune on the Pune-Satara route. Both my previous trips to the place had been primarily railfanning trips, but this time it was the calmness of the valley that urged me to go there. So, a plan was hatched and 2 of my friends were to join me on what would be a fitting way to recharge after the hectic work-week.

So, Sunday morning saw the 3 of us at Pune's PF.2 waiting to board the 1609A Pune-Satara Passenger. A freshly painted Pune's WDM3A was in charge of the 410 tonne 9 car passenger, this loco., as the Assistant LP mentioned, would be the link for the Kolhapur-Mumbai Sahyadri Express later that day. Shortly after the appointed hour we pulled out of Pune.The journey was marked by excellent chilly weather and a complete lack of traffic enroute. Save for the beautiful sunrise at Saswad Road, the scenic curvacious route and the last remnants of the token system (yes! it exists but not for too long), the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful in terms of trainspotting.

Breakfast comprised of Sandwiches picked up from Comesom (Pune Station) and some Wadas (Medu and Batata) bought at Nira. At 10:10 AM, we pulled into Adarki and surprise! a crossing lay in store for us. The hillock facing the Adarki station seemed pretty inviting as a good vantage point to capture the crossing, and we wasted no time in climbing it. Halfway up the hillock, we settled for a good view of the action that would soon follow. The Assistant LP of the 1609A had predicted the crossing of the Pune bound 1610 Passenger, but it wasn't to be. The characteristic sound of the horn easily gave away the approaching WDG4. Shortly, the freight train appeared, and doing about 40 KMPH, it crossed the stationary passenger. It was a pleasure to see the GM loco. take on the horse shoe curve and the still silence of the valley ensured that the passing train could be clearly heard from far away. Soon, the passenger made its usual smoky start from Adarki, and silence descended upon the valley again.

We now began our 10 KM walk to Wathar, from where we were to catch the Pune bound Koyna express in about 2 Hrs time. The sun beat down heavily upon us but the scenic route made us forget the heat. On our way, we spotted remnants of the old MG line, and also noticed that the Semaphores had been torn down recently and were strewn all over on the ground. Semaphore signalling seems to have died in this section. At the 111 KM mark, yet another characteristic sound of a horn warned us of an Approaching WDG4, and sure, it came along, this time moving faster and looking smart in its Green livery. Next, we found ourself crossing the 158 metre long tunnel and then into the rock cuttings. The 1610 passenger was due any moment now. I was reminded of how 5 among us were trapped in the tunnel on our 15th August trip. This time, no such thing happened.

Running really late, Guntakal's WDM2A crossed us with the passenger in tow, while we were passing through a longish rock cutting. The train approached us on a curve and the Loco. Pilot did not see us until very late, which prompted him to shout angrily at us as the train whizzed by. Soon we approached KM 116, the very same spot from where we opted for road transport to Wathar, on our Independence day trip. This time, we were going to walk our way to Wathar. Wathar war reached at 12:42 PM, exactly the same time as Koyna's departure is listed in the TT! Though, we were on time, the Koyna wasn't, and it gave us just enough time to purchase tickets for the return journey.

Wathar serves as a base kitchen for koyna, and about 20-25 lunches were loaded on to the train. We boarded a reserved Chair Car coach, and upgraded from our general seats by paying a fee of RS.15 per head, to the TTE. This seemed legal to me as we were given proper railway receipts for the amount paid. At 1.00 PM, the Kazipet WDM2A hauled Koyna pulled out of Wathar. The return journey was mostly spent in the pictures and videos from the trip and glancing over Samit's Atlas. The KOP bound Koyna was crossed at Rajewadi (insted of the usual place, Jejuri), and Pune was reached at 3.25 PM, marking an end to a refreshing Sunday trip.

Ashwin

Trip Report: Electric action at Malawli, 8th October

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:45:00 +0000

Disclaimer: The report talks about trains/railways

After catching a lot of Diesel action, it was time to give the Electrics their due. An opportunity presented itself when we hatched a plan to go to Malawli, which is 56 KM from Pune on the way to Lonavla.

Observations at Pune Station:

1) At about 6 AM in the morning, the rake of Jhelum Express was being shunted by an Itarsi WDMxx. Surprising, how did the Itarsi loco. get here in the first place? And also, what was Jhelum’s rake doing there at 6 AM!! One possible explanation could be that Jhelum had a loco. failiure and hence reached Pune very late.

2) Announcement regarding Azad Hind’s arrival was made and it was running on time.

3) Our train, the Lonavla bound 6.30 AM EMU was to depart from PF1

At Malawli, Her Majesty, the Queen of the Deccan raced past at over 90 Kmph. Such is the prestige that she commands that the LC gates at Malawli were closed a good 8-10 minutes before her arrival. WCAM3 #21882 did the honours. More sightings include a Pune bound EMU and the CSTM bound Pragati with its customary loco., a WCG2.

We had more sightings on the way to Lohagad fort which is on top of a hill. Some more sightings were in store for us on our return journey in the evening. Firstly, Konark, then the 1081, both at Malawli. Our EMU was crossed by the Intercity at KM 52 at about 6.40 PM, and we were overtaken by the Pune bound Pragati at Khadki at 7.45 PM.

As our EMU pulled into Pune, The Deccan Odessey departed from PF1 with either a WCAM3 or a WCG2 (couldn’t note this clearly). Incidentally, this was the first time I was seeing The Deccan Odessey.

Some general notes on Malawli:

1) The Pune-Mumbai Expressway runs parallel to the railway tracks from somewhere near Kamshet to Malawli. Just after Malawli, they split.

2) Most express trains do 80+ through this station, making it an ideal place to catch high speed action.

3) Malawli is the closest railhead for Bhaje Caves, Lohagad fort, and Visapur fort. The station can be very clearly seen as we ascend these tourist destinations, and the view of trains passing parallel to the expressway from up the hills is simply breathtaking.

All pictures of the trip can be viewed at www.ashwinpune.fotopic.net, please do take a look. Eager to get some feedback from your side.

Fleur-de run -The Perfect run

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 04:50:00 +0000

On 3rd September, I think I ran the perfect run. The perfection lay in the time splits over the period of the entire run, here it goes,

1st round (2.4 KM) - 9 mins, 25 seconds
2nd round (2.4 KM) - 9 mins, 26 seconds
3rd round (2.4 KM) - 9 mins, 22 seconds

total (7.2 KM) - 28 mins, 13 seconds, nearly my best time till date

If you take a look at the splits of the world record holder for the Marathon, you will notice very even splits over the entire 42 KM. The trick to running well is to run well consistently....

Is Lance 'leg' strong?

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Thu, 04 May 2006 04:30:00 +0000

Lance's Armstrong is one mean machine. His recent announcement to take up marathon running seriously comes as no surprise. The 7 time yellow jersey winner who fought back from cancer probably has all that takes to be a good runner, strong legs, capacious lungs, and a big heart, and if he trancends his cycling exploits onto the running track, he sure will give the other competitors, literally, a 'run' for their money.

Hmm...What Next??

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 04:10:00 +0000

As the semester draws to a close, the mist clears up. With my MBA dreams surely not materializing this year, looks like it’s the campus job for me. Still a long way to go as my B.E. project is incomplete and will take a while to be over. Looking forward to a month’s break after giving all the B.E. exams and then its back to work again, this time at IBM.

MBA Part 2 : GD/PI experiences

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 20:10:00 +0000

Here it goes,

My XLRI interview experience (3rd March, at XIC, Mumbai)

3 panelists P1, P2, P3 and Me in a small room at XIC. This is how it went,

P1- so, are you aware of the kind of questions we have been asking to the other candidates?
Me- some of them Sir
P1- and have you prepared the answers to those questions?
Me- yes sir
P1- so tell me what all have we been asking?
Me- blah, blah, blah……
P1- ok. So I will not ask you any of those. Start with your strengths and we will take it on from there
Me- (spoke about them)
P1- Give me some instances to support what you just said
Me- (gave him an example)
P1- so you are saying you sold yourself (had mentioned something like that) to get the project. Sell the Bush nuclear deal to the US congress.
Me- blah, blah…..(focus a lot on economic benefits)
P1- ok, economy is one aspect of it. Any other?
Me- (mention ‘friendship building measure’)
P1- so you mentioned something about your BE project. Tell me more about it
Me- (gave a summary of it)
P1- you are doing it alone or ….
Me- a group of three sir
P1- so what role do you play in getting the project done?
Me- (explain to him how we divide the work and then discuss periodically)
(all this while P2 was watching me very closely, while P3 was a lot more relaxed. Now P2 gets into the act)
P2- What do you think about the nuclear deal, good, bad or ambivalent
Me- good. (and explain a bit)
P2- so you support it despite anti-Bush protests?
Me- (stick to my view and explain)
P2- tell me the difference between alumna, alumnae, alumnus and alumni
Me- may I take a moment to think about it?
P2- yes, sure
Me- (answered alumni correctly, but got confused about the others and did not answer)
Me- (tell him that all of them are related)
P2- haven’t heard of alumna? Aren’t you an engineering student?
Me- oh..did you mean alumina as in A.L.U.M.I.N.A (spell the word)
P2- yes
Me- tell him that it is an ore of aluminium
P2- but what is it?
Me- you mean, its chemical formula?
P2- yes
Me- (tell him the correct chemical formula)
P2- now tell me what is alumnae and alumnus
Me- (knew what alumnus meant, but somehow it did not strike at that time)
Me- (think for a few seconds and finally say, “I am sorry. I do not know sir”)
P2- never mind. But you were right, they are all related terms
P2- which news paper do you read?
Me- TOI sir.
P2- how often?
Me- a little everyday
P2- little means?
Me- 15-20 mins. everyday
P2- which page do you turn to first?
Me- the sports page
P2- (laughts gently) sports page only?
Me- no sir the others too.
(now P3 joins the party)
P3- of late, germany and france have started to agree on a lot of issues. What are your view on it?
Me- (stumpted, totally. Finally end up saying that I don’t know)
P3- What is the relation between China and Taiwan?
Me- Their relation is strained, sir
(P2 interrupts. Smilingly asks “is this the answer to the question he asked?”)
Me- no sir, it isn’t an appropriate answer.
P2- So you are not into international news, you are domestic guy. (laughs)
P3- Who is the editor of TOI?
Me- no idea sir, but I am aware that it is a Bennett and Coleman publication.
P3- What is known as the ‘Old lady of boribunder’?
Me- (start thinking)
P3- you know what Boribunder is, right?
Me- yes sir, Bombay VT (now Mumbai CST) was previously known as Boribunder (thank god I remembered that the first train in India ran from Boribunder to Thane)
Me- The Deccan Queen is the old lady of boribunder.
P3- Deccan Queen, you mean the train between Bombay and Pune? Why would that be called the old lady of boribunder?
Me- (tell him that the train is 77 yrs. Old and hence probably called so)
P3- the correct answer is The Times of India
Me- I was unaware of that sir
P2- People say that the quality of TOI has gone down with time. What do you think
Me- (Agree and support my answer)
(now P3 suddenly says, “actually, Deccan Queen is also the right answer” and smiles)
P1- what is your position in class?
Me- (tell him)
P1- out of how many students?
Me- (tell him)
(P1 looks at P2 & P3 probably conveying the end of the interview)
P2- Can I take a look at your file please?
Me- (give him my file and P2 browses through the documents)
P2- (sees a certificate regarding a german course that I had done) you have learn’t german but you don’t know about germany?
Me- (quiet)
P2- can you speak german?
Me- yes sir
P2- you should know about germany then
Me- (explain that I had done the course 6 years ago)
P2- oh..ok. (all of them start laughing)
P2- (goes through all my certs)
P2- (after looking at my XAT scorecard) you have a very nice percentile
Me- Thank you sir
P2- How many IIM interviews do you have?
Me- none
P2- That is all. Please sign against you name
Me- (sign & thank them)
Me- Shall I send in the next candidate?
Panel- yes please do so

That’s how it ended. Keeping fingers crossed about the results. The interview lasted for 20-25 mins. All panelist and myself smiled/laughed quite a bit during the course of the interview.

coming up next is a NITIE GD/PI session on the 10th of March

Had a VGSOM (IIT-Kgp) GD/PI session @ 8.30 on the 10th of Feb @ IIT-B.

The details,
The process started with a presentation by VGSOM students namely Aparna, Abhishek, Anshuman (ans_bhai of PG fame), Harish and Trishun.
These people also did a great job of coordinating the whole process thereafter thus the whole process was smooth and very well organized.

Lots of PGites were present in my batch namely theginsoakedboy, couger, the_constantine, and a few more.

GD: A case study. 9 people in my panel.

PI: 3 panels, 27 students. I was the last guy in panel 3. The panel consisted of 2 people, one was a VGSOM prof.(P1) and the other panelist had a very pleasant smiling face (P2). The interview was as follows,

P2- please take a seat
Me- thank you
P2- Tell me something about yourself
Me- blah, blah, blah for 30 seconds……end my answer talking about how I built my coin collection from scratch.
P2- so tell me which is the rarest coin in the world
Me- give him an answer (the correct one, I think. He seemed satisfied)
P2- how much does that coin cost?
Me- 550$ (if the coin I referred to was correct, then so is the price)
P2- only 550$?
Me- justify the answer & blah, blah ,blah
P1- (all of a sudden starts speaking) which period does this coin belong to?
Me- sorry, I am unaware of that.
P1- (prompts) I mean which century, is it very old or what?
Me- it was minted after 1980. blah, blah..
P2- Which is the rarest coin in your collection?
Me- blah…….
P1- tell me which subject you have studied in your course
Me- (listed 4 of them, optic fiber being one of them)
P1- tell me how an optic fiber works
Me- blah……..
P1- (shuffles the papers on the table giving me an impression that he wants me to draw whatever I want to explain)
Me- (ask him if he wants me to draw it)
P1- no, not necessary
P1- (more questions on optic fiber, this time he draws something on paper)
Me- (work on his drawing)
P1- (more questions on optic fiber and some question on what is the speed at which electric current in a transmission line travels)
Me- (answer all his question cdorrectly, but he manages to confuse me on one question)
P2- so you are a fresher, why not get some work-ex before doing an MBA?
Me-(agree that work-ex is important, but mention that IT work-ex is not too relevant to an MBA programme)
P2- (seemed satisfied)

(P1 & P2 have a word with each other and then P2 tells me that the interview is over)

just as I stand up to leave, P2 gets a brainwave and asks me, “is there anything you would like to ask us?”

Me- (sit down and ask him some question on how exactly an MBA will be useful to an aspiring entrepreneur, a 5 minute informal discussion between P1, P2 and Me took place where we talked about some survey conducted by Harvard, blah, blah, blah)

That ended the interview. It lasted for not more than 18 minutes. No idea what the outcome of it will be.

coming up next.....XLRI (yes, the BIG one) on March 3rd.

GoMGee : the walking plaza

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 06:10:00 +0000

Finally it has happened (a month ago, actually). A walking plaza in Pune!!! A welcome change from the mad traffic on MG road, the walking plaza has been in the news quite regularly since its inception. One walk through MG road and you can feel every shop including those which you failed to notice when not on foot. On the flip side, the walking plaza has been vehemently opposed by a group of shop owners on MG road who have gone as far as keeping their shops shut during the "walking plaza" time.

more coming up......

Chennai trip 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 06:50:00 +0000

Day 1: The Train Journey (Skip this paragraph if you are not too fond of trains)

My train was hauled from Pune by a WDM-3A (diesel) locomotive upto Renigunta. Slightly surprised because a WDM 2 (diesel) generally does the honors on this route. The loco belonged to the Guntakal shed but had been rebuilt at Ludhiana and hence had a livery very unlike the standard livery of the Guntakal locos. I asked the engineer (the driver) if he would allow me to footplate on the locomotive but he refused saying that only A-1 Government officers had that privilege. At Renigunta, a WAM-6P (electric) loco took over upto Chennai.
Some unusual observations……a long stretch of track before Renigunta was both double lined (I had observed some track laying going on 2 years ago) and electrified (!!)……almost all goods vehicles were hauled by powerful WDP-4 locos (in the past twin WDM-2 were used) .

Day 2: The Wedding Reception

It was nice. Met lots of relatives after a looooooong time and had a good time. It was a testing time for the wedding couple as they had to stand for most of the evening and have photographs taken with relatives/friends. The couple looked good in their outfits and the background music too was good. The food was sumptuous and the icing on the cake was the dessert, jalebis+icecream (though I missed this because my stomach was too full).

Day 3: The Wedding

I was attending a wedding after 18 years and this time was determined catch all the action from the start and…. I did. Understood most of what was happening thanks to inputs from my mom. The rituals as I remember them,

Kashi Yatra – the groom wants to go but the father of the bride calls him back.

And the winner is…… - A white purdah separates the couple. The moment it is lowered both of them try to throw rice grains at each other and this time the winner was…..the groom.

Mangalsutra tying– the usual thing

And finally, the ceremony concluded with everyone congratulating the couple.

Day 4: The Rendezvous day

All the day was spent in meeting relatives in Chennai. Played a round of antakshari and had a nice jog at the beach that night.

Day 5: Farewell Chennai

Back in Pune at the end of the day. All in all an eventful trip. Got an opportunity to meet my cousin (from US), lots of other relatives and had a good time. Glad I could make this trip.

funny one liners

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 02:30:00 +0000

Dilbert has it & so do many other cartoons. But the real fun is when you modify the original one liner or even better, create your own. Here are some of those I have come across
Note : all the one liners below are those created/modified by "others." I do not claim responsibilty for any of them.

"If at first you do not succed, try management" - a modification of a similar Dilbert liner

"Promises are like babies, fun to make but hard to deliver"

"impotency-nature's way of saying "no hard feelings""

"we are born wet, naked and hungry. Then things get worse" - courtesy Anand Ayyadurai

more coming up......

"Nothing is random. Everything in life is a pattern, some just too large for us to see" - Caroline in the City (the sitcom)

saw this on PG,

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy???

After the GRE effect I Say:
Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders Jack a hebetudinous fellow.

On PG again,
"If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it"

MBA part 1: The entrance exams

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 04:10:00 +0000

Finally done with all the exams that I intended to give to obtain admission into a b-school.
Here’s a brief overview.

20th Nov, 2005 : CAT – the mother of all entrance exams. Approximately taken by 1,75,000 students across the country. The exam got tougher this year.

11th Dec, 2005 : JMET – for technocrats only. JMET is rumored to have the toughest quants (maths) among all the entrance exams. Incidentally, this year this exam fell right in between 2 semester exams. Approximately 18,000 students sat for this exam.

8th Jan, 2006 : XAT – a shocker of a paper comprising of “MA hons. English, engineering mathematics and managerial level logic”, as someone aptly put it.

15th Jan, 2006 : FMS – a paper in which questions from the previous years were repeated (stupid). Northing in the paper which could test the aptitude of the student. FMS is probably the toughest institute to get into with more than 50,000 students competing for 60 odd seats!!

Will include a part 2 comprising of GD/PI experiences provided I get calls from any of the institutes.

Entrepreneurship, anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:20:00 +0000

Let’s get straight to the point. If you are an engineer, what are the options available to you? 1) a software job, 2) further studies (MBA, M.Tech, MS), or if you get lucky 3) a technical job in your field of engineering.
But wait, here’s a fourth option, entrepreneurship. Sure there are many of us engineers who want to be entrepreneurs later in our lives (after 5-10 years or so), but on second thought, why that timeframe? It is hard to figure out what kind of a job will teach you the nuances of entrepreneurship (in 5-10 years that is). Also, money is a factor, but thinking that you will be able to save up enough money in your pre-entrepreneurship job also makes little sense.
So, if you do want to be an entrepreneur, what is the harm in starting off as soon as you complete your education? Also, out of many people who decide they will become entrepreneurs later in their lives, might never end up realizing their dream of doing so (various factors involved). Having said all that, I am myself taking up a job when I wish to become an entrepreneur, so I am being a hypocrite in this case…but…you get the point, right?

and yes..Wishing everyone a very happy 2006

Cricket @ Taljai (Pune)

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:00:00 +0000

“How in the world did you find such a ground?” was a friend’s remark when he caught a glimpse of the beautiful ground on top of the hill. And to make matters better, a lot of us had turned up to play. My opposite number won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat first (why are people so scared of chasing targets? Isn’t it a lot easier to chase?). Anyways, they put up 51 in 12 overs, which we chased it down in just 9 overs. No real funny incident to recount, but a few lessons learnt viz,
- Burger King does not open until 11.30 AM
- Marz-O-Rin burgers suck

The one slippered traveler

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 17:26:00 +0000

Just out of the blue, a funny incident comes to mind. Here it goes, a group of us were on a visit to chennai to attend IIT-Madras’s annual event. After a day full of giving presentations and having listened to some given by others (unfortunately), we decided to chill out by visiting the nearest beach. Now, all of us belonged to a beachless city and hence the sight of the sea made us want to jump into it asap. One of us (we will call him TB) was so enthu that he forgot to take of his slippers before jumping into the sea, but soon realized that he had forgotten to do so and hastily removed it. The next wave carries his pair with it into the sea. TB frantically tries to get it back but manages to salvage only one of it. He roams around chennai with just one slipper on, turning a few heads and spreading a lot of joy around (even a waiter at the local restaurant joined us in our laughter). Somebody had the presence of mind to get a picture of that Kodak moment.
I will paste that picture as soon as I lay my hands on it (TB has a copy of it). I hope TB does not read this before I procure the photo from him.

Autobiographies - just too good

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:20:00 +0000

They are among the best books you can get your hands on. Not only do they make for interesting reading but also give you a good insight into the lives of successful people. Here’s my take on some of the autobiographies I have read,

‘Losing my Virginity’ - Richard Branson
Branson interleaves his business and adventures so beautifully that at times this book almost seems like fiction. An un-putdownable book.

‘Sunny Days’ - Sunil Gavaskar
You will enjoy this book even if you are not interested in cricket at all, because this book majorly deals with people (and funny people at that). Though at times Gavaskar brings in too many numbers, overall it is a well written and surprisingly humorous book.

‘Straight from the gut’ – Jack Welch
A good book. Welch’s graphical techniques of representing business plans are awesome.

‘Made in Japan’ - Akio Morita
I suggest reading this book in parallel with ‘SONY-the inside life’ by John Nathan. The two books in parallel make for a great combination.

‘Odyssey’ - John Sculley
A corporate drama on how Sculley first kicked his job at Pepsi Co. to join Apple Computers and then kicked Steve Jobs himself. This book depicts Jobs as the villain. Maybe, Steve Jobs’ autobiography will invert that.

Lee Iacocca’s autobiography
Depicts the shrewdness and internal politics employed by Henry Ford Jr. to kick Iacocca out of Ford and Iacocca’s comeback after his humiliation .

‘The IBM way’- Buck Rodgers
He was an IBM Vice President for many years. In this book he explains why IBM is (or was) that good. And believe it or not, this fellow used to run 5 miles a day despite his busy schedule owing to a high profile job.

Currently reading Mahatma Gandhi’s and Paramahansa Yogananada’s autobiography. More on autobiographies as I go on reading more of them.

What this MBA thing is all about

noreply@blogger.com (Ashwin) — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 03:20:00 +0000

Today MBA (the degree) is sacrosanct. No wonder nearly 2 lakh Indians took the CAT this year. To most it is the passport to a higher management job & of course, an amazing salary. But what is this MBA thing all about? What exactly can they teach you in 2 years that transforms you from a 2 lakh junior management guy (read programmer) to a 8 lakh senior management wizard. Not that I am against the whole MBA idea. In fact, I have myself taken the CAT this year and hope to get into a good management institute. But somehow I find it hard to digest how 2 years of studying management can so easily bypass years of experience and hard work. Also, how in the world can a manager, who has never written a piece of code in his life, be part of a senior management team of an IT company (IT firms do pick up a lot of MBAs from premiere institutes).
Today, a majority of people giving the CAT happen to be working as programmers in top Indian IT firms. I think the reason for this is that they see very little future in their present jobs or they are just too bored with their jobs. I do not think they want to do an MBA just because they had a brainwave that they would make good managers. It is almost as if they cannot think of anything better to do, so why not do an MBA. After all, it is the ‘in thing’ right now.
But is the MBA bubble like the IT bubble of the 90’s? With the way things are going, a few years from now, India will have only two kinds of white collared professionals- the MBAs and the programmers (oh, I forgot the call center people).
But is this the India we want? It is high time we focus on creating other jobs. What do you think?