The Other Side of Life

Don't even ask. Where have I been, what have I been doing, why wasn't I blogging, why am I invisible? One word reply - B-School. If I wanted to talk about that, I wouldn't be blogging which also explains my absence all this while. But here's what I want to talk about! So, I came across  Matt Haig's website and his lists  excited me enough to actually open the Blogger dashboard and write. Here's my collection of lists: Things I Love: City Lights at night that twinkle when I wrinkle my eyes John Mayer's songs on a loop Sitting on a beach with feet sinking in the sand and crystals in the hair Hot Pakodis and jalebi on a rainy day Green fields rushing by in a blur on a highway drive Hanging your head down from the Upper berth on the train to scare someone Looking at class photographs from 20 years back and recognizing people Lazy Sunday brunch at home Gossiping with my sister at 1 in the night The extremely rare momen...

The original title of the post was "Life at B-School", but then I realized that my imagination is not powerful enough to invent non-existent things. Hence, the resort to the cliched title. I will not get into what the past 1 month at B-School has been like. That'll augur a whole book, which I am not in a mood to write and to be frank, I don't have the time to write. But here's what I can tell you positively. I learnt, much to my amusement, that every time in the past 23 years when I said I was "Busy", I was only kidding myself and everyone around me. Learnt a whole new dimension to the word "busy"! Right now, for instance, on a Saturday night, when ideally I would have been out shopping or watching TV or hanging out with friends, I am "taking time out" to write this post, following which I will study Financial Ratios. Sad. I know. Without wasting any more time (another thing I learnt here), let's quickly look into th...

"Aasmaan Se Tapka, Khajoor Ke Ped Pe Latka" How else would explain my wonderful vacation, moving from one hothouse called Delhi to another called Hyderabad? To be fair, I never thought I was going to a hill-station or Switzerland. But a cooler Hyderabad would have been so much more fun! Cities have their own ways of growing on you. Or of not growing, but clawing at you. Either way, you cannot ignore some cities. Hyderabad is one of them. 20 years, and our love-hate match continues. Day 1 is always the day of the bungle before the war. I emerge from the airport, all optimistic, with brushed up Telugu skills and renewed love for the hometown. Half an hour later, on the top of the long snake-like flyover, enroute to the city, the anger begins to kick in. Conversations with drivers. That's when I realize the war is on. I speak my posh, broken Telugu, and the drivers, their rude, unbroken Telugu. At some point, I try putting up a white flag and shift to Hindi politely. To n...

My family is full of News junkies. Has always been. My earliest memory of the television is the Samachar and News in English at 8pm on Doordarshan. A melancholic looking Sunil Tandon would read the day's top stories and leave within 15 minutes to make space for the even more melancholic looking Salma Sultan.  I distinctly remember a fine winter evening in 1994, when the 8 pm news was delayed by 4 minutes and my Dad commented that something big was up. We waited with bated breath as the anchor announced the demise of an ex-President of India. This was followed by a national holiday and 10 days of mourning and non stop Pandit Bismillah Khan's Shehnai on TV. For a 7 year old, the choice was quite simple - A day's holiday or 10 days without Shriman Shrimati. After that incident, every time the news got delayed even by a few seconds, I prayed fervently for the well-being of every President alive on earth. Wonder how many lives I saved! And then gradually, as bedti...

( Thank you, BlogAdda! ) So now that work's out of the way (I loved saying that!), let's get down to some serious business, shall we? Someone once told me, "There's a business model in everything." And I laughed it off. But today, I thought about that, and realized he was right. And so, presenting to you my list of top 3 business ideas.  This list is issspecial because its a reflection of the little teeeny-weeny business sense I have. Be considerate. (I am open for partnerships, especially of the monetary kind, where you bring in the money, and I bring you guaranteed fame.) FORBES TOP 3 BUSINESS IDEAS BY YOURS TRULY AT NUMBER 3: THE RETORT MACHINE Let's be frank. We have all been there, haven't we? Intense moment, strong argument, you are in the middle of it all and blank. That smartass has thrown a horrible comment at you, and you have no idea what to say. The proverbial cat which got your tongue is pretty much swinging on it, while you, poor you, you ...