FRUSTRATED

Behne de.. mujhe behne de…

Sitting in the more than delayed train at some random station, and just waiting for it to move. These songs seem to be the only respite. I have plans. I want to be there. I want to go there and have fun, river rafting, kay kaying, rappling. Now that would be adventure. But thanks to Indian railways I am here in this damn hole called the bogie, in a small berth trying to fit in my legs.

Like everything else in life, here I am frustrated with two things. As economists would call it: a micro and a macro reason.

Let us first start with the macro reason – The Indian Railways. Can it never improve? Do we Indians not deserve punctuality in time? Are we not privileged enough to be asking for such basic necessities? Why, even after 150 years of operation, the operations part of the Indian railways is still a farce?

Thinking about it, it has little to do with the Indian railways in particular. It is the Indian government. Anything that the government puts its murky hands into, turns into crap. The Indian railways network is the largest in the world, and it also boasts of the largest employer in the world. Why not? There are so many of them who I am sure just sit at home, and draw their salaries.

Totally dejected I am, and not without any reason. I really used to like that dialogue from RDB – “ koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota, use perfect banana hota hai..”, but in the case of india, till this kind of government machinery exists, till the railways is just one big lucrative ministerial portfolio, till people are just interested in buying votes, and then making money out of the electoral process like a business, nothing is going to improve.

Seeing things like this, one rather starts believeing in, “you can’t beat them join them!”. Unfortunately that is what has been happening across the years in india, and nothing much has changed. Nothing.

Now coming to the micro reason of my present frustration here in this cramped berth. I hate side seats in the Indian trains. what average height of the Indian was assumed in making this. Indians are sure not this short.

Zindagi.. do pal ki.. intezaar kab tak.. hum karenge bhala.. ( playing on my winamp)

I was supposed to be there on the way to the resort to trek, raft, rapple, and do a host lot of other crazy things. I hate it. Why am I here? The Indian rail to blame, but more than that, why am I travelling on a Saturday morning? Why have I not retired on Friday evening itself for the weekend? I could have taken a flight yesterday evening, and slept comfortably at home.

No one to blame here, except me. People have told me, take a break. Have a life. There is something called work life balance. But I guess then I need to correct things out there. I need to do that extra thing to ensure things are done in my way. I am just behaving like a pure plain crazy workaholic. Am I really one? I am not too sure.

More than six months and have not been home, and have promised myself that I would not till I achieve my goals. I have not realy freaked out much in the last four months after taking over, I will not till everything is set.

My room has the poster, “I CAN REPAIR ALMOST EVERYTHING”, and I will repair it. But then dude, have a life!!! Huh! This is not the first time I am hearing this, and I have never ever felt bad working on weekends, working late into the nights, doing all the crazy travel, but then this time it has spoiled my plans. It has screwed my plans of doing something that I love.

Chill, big deal. I just enquired it would take another two hours to reach Bangalore. Two more hours. It is already two hours late, and two more hours. Perfect. Could not have asked for more. Why am I frustrated? Why? Damn!

For a journey which takes 8 hours, the train is delayed by four hours. Awesome. 50% more time to cover the distance. The driver was fucking drinking and sleeping around the night. Bas%&^.

Was just talking to mom the other day, and she was reminding me of my hatredness towards railways and was asking the reason why I was travelling on rail. I am an idiot (and not the aamir khan types!), that is why.

HATE IT!!!!

Oh girl you're mine... oh girl you're mine!!!!!

All good things come to an end

okay, one more month got added to the list. Funny. Just in feb i had rued about the fact that i had not blogged for those two monhts, and had made a mental resolve that i would blog regularly. But guess, the work toll took away too much of time. Not too sure if that would change any soon. "targets nahi ho rahe bhai!"

if professional life was not screwed enough, personal life too is not going any great guns. Everything seems so complicated, so confusing.

even now, don't have the luxury to write a post in detail ( i so much want to!), but wanted to post the lyrics of a song that have been listening of late.


"All Good Things (Come To An End)"

Honestly what will become of me
don't like reality
It's way too clear to me
But really life is dandy
We are what we don't see
Missed everything daydreaming

[Chorus:]
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?

Traveling I only stop at exits
Wondering if I'll stay
Young and restless
Living this way I stress less
I want to pull away when the dream dies
The pain sets in and I don't cry
I only feel gravity and I wonder why

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?

Well the dogs were whistling a new tune
Barking at the new moon
Hoping it would come soon so that they could
Dogs were whistling a new tune
Barking at the new moon
Hoping it would come soon so that they could
Die die die die die

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?

Well the dogs were barking at a new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
And the sun was wondering if it should stay away for a day 'til the feeling went away
And the sky was falling on the clouds were dropping and
the rain forgot how to bring salvation
the dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon so that they could die.

~ nelly furtado

My fav lines in the song.. the chorus
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
SO TRUE.

3 idiots learning

“yeh jo dil hai na.. bada darpok hai. isko bevkoof bana ke rakho.. life mein jitni bhi problem ho.. isko bolo "koi baat nahi chachu.. sab kuch theek thaak hai. ALL IZZ WELL. ALL IZZ WELL"

How true? Jus keep uttering this to yourself, that everything is fine, and there you get a big boost of confidence to tackle any problem. My dad always says, “There is no problem that big that it cannot be tackled. It is only the mental roadblock to believe that it can be tackled that is big!” Again, how true?

Well, the dialogue is from the movie – 3 idiots, and truly as Uma Sir says, What a movie it was? More than the entertainment value the subtle message that is delivered speaks volumes, and hopefully will awake people. This post is dedicated to him, for his motivation to write something on this front!

The movie's theme is highly inspiring and thought provoking even while it takes a dig at the current educational system with all its latent flaws and seriously questions the very relevance of societal whims which eat away into a budding student's mind that the end of education is a high profile job, wealth, fame, name et al., making them deprived of the opportunity to set their vision on something where their heart and soul lies! .. ~ Uma Shankar

The book “five point someone” I am sure I read by more or less all of us, and this movie is a loose adaptation of the same. (no matter what Raju or vidhu say.. it is very much inspired from the book). Though yes, It does require the caliber of hirani- Aamir to bring out the latent message in the book – the education system of the country and its flaws.


A little about the movie – It starts with Madhavan & Sharman getting a link about the whereabouts of Aamir , & they set out to meet him. Their college life is shown in the flash back. Aamir, who is different from others, with some off the track goal in mind, shows the first glint of his brilliance in the ragging scene. (very old engineering ragging technique!) They become friends & start living their rollercoaster life in the college. Boman irani is the principal, and he makes their lives hell, & to top it all, his daughter falls in love with one of them ( you know who!). The college fun, filled with some unexpected twists ad turns do make it an enjoyable watch.

The movie has raised some very valid & burning questions - teenagers committing suicide out of pressure, the validity of the college courses, need of grading system, etc.

The best part of the movie is that the makers have not only criticized the system and left it there, but have also shown the way – the school in Laddakh is a reminder for the government to see.

Now talking in detail about some fundamental flaws of the Indian education system which need to be changed.

Learning by rote

Learning by rote involves learning facts without developing a deep understanding of them. This lack of understanding makes it impossible to grasp meaning and apply and transfer the knowledge to other areas. Memorizing vocabulary words is pointless, for example, without understanding how to use them in conversation.

Lectures often emphasize rote learning rather than critical thinking. Topics are discussed sequentially, not critically. The teacher does the talking and most of the thinking. The student memorizes material and is placed in a passive role. But many of us who use the lecture should also be concerned that our students learn to think critically.

I remember students when teaching in a coaching institute for competitive exams. When I start teaching them to solve a problem yb starting from the basics of arithmetic, and then complete the entire question in a logical step by step manner, no bidy would listen. In the end, one of the guys would ask, “Sir, is there no shortcut formula for this problem?”.

Yes, there is a shortcut formula. MAKE ONE!. You should know how to derive the shortcut and make it your own.

I think it is time, that india moves to an enquiry based learning. This describes a range of philosophical, curricular and pedagogical approaches to teaching. Its core premises include the requirement that learning should be based around student's questions. Pedagogy and curriculum requires students to work together to solve problems rather than receiving direct instructions on what to do from the teacher. The teacher's job is therefore not to provide knowledge, but instead to help students along the process of discovering knowledge themselves.

Obsession with Grades

When I was in college, it was apparent. As the semester comes to a close, student anxiety tends to rise, usually to extraordinary levels. At L, the libraries would be filled with students

Students just talk to professors about one thing – grades. It is never to do with a new invention or some latest technology. No! it only has to be grades, and even if the talk digress to something academic it is only with the hope of creating an impression for it to reflect on the grades. ACP – After class participation.

Students who actually get curious about a subject are rare. It all just waters down to a letter grade.

My friends who went on a student exchange program to different parts of the world, had this to say about the system there, “.. their classroom manners weren't the best - arriving late, answering cellphones, and frequently turning in homework after it was due. But grades were never an issue. It truly was a productive academic environment - the focus was on collaborative learning rather than individual grades…”

An example here would be MIT Professor Noam Chomsky. During his junior high school years, he went to an experimental school run by Temple University's education department. With no grades or competition, each student was simply encouraged to do his or her best. Chomsky recollects this school as a wonderful and influential experience.

His parents then sent him to a competitive high school for college-bound students. Chomsky realized that grades and success were all that mattered, and school suddenly became a scary place that he admits he hated: "If I got a B in something, it was tragic," he writes in a letter. "I even got a D once - in English grammar, a subject that made no sense at all as far as I could figure out."
huh! English grammar. Thankfully CAT just has the application part of English.

Since joining the linguistics faculty at MIT in 1955, he has changed the face of linguistics, and especially the English language, with his theories on generative grammar. The point here: Grades aren't everything; excellence is. (point reiterated more than once in the movie!!)

Of course, who can argue that earning a good grade is not important? I, too, must admit that I become preoccupied with grades in my own graduate classes. but well, i was never in the rat race. I just wanted to clear the papers, as a pre requisite. It remained the same at L too.
But rather than running behind success, we should strive to sun behind excellence, which is the truer secret to education.

“kamyabi ke peeche nahi, kabilyat ke peeche bhago!.. kamyabi khud tumhare peeche daudegi”

When "get results now" prevails over "achieve excellence," it's very tempting to renounce our integrity.

The movie is a must watch for everyone, and especially to the parents of south india, who have tirelessly churned engineers and more engineers in the past several years. In the south india I have seen, it is like after tenth standard, a teenager is given the option – engineering or medicine? It is as if there are no other options available in the world. This has done good to the economy – a complete full fledged coaching market has sprung and is flourishing, but what has it done to the intellectual capital?

We have lost potential cricketers, actors, writers, photographers to this demon called engineering. Most of them have been sucked to the IT industry, and one year of recession has shown its true colours. Supply far exceeds demand and still there is a demand for “Quality” and “job ready” candidates. All these students just know to rote, so applying them to the real world is completely a different ball game al together.

So I sincerely hope the movie shows some ways, and brings about a mindset change in some people atleast. And also, hoping that the people in power, think something about the whole system and realize it is time for reforms.

VLCC - Don't venture anywhere close!!! PART 2

Well, coming back to the beautician, a well dressed middle aged lady with looks of a doctor. Efficient acting I say. Even she exchanged the customary pleasantries (guess it is part of their training), asked me to be seated in front of the machine. I got excited. Wah! At last some action is about to happen. Well, she asks me to look at the screen, while she had a rod shaped camera, which she thrust on my face. After doing this at four different locations on the face, she declared that I had a dry skin. Wha? I can see that. You don't need a camera to say that. I told her sarcastically – "Even my hair is dry!" She again started off with the rod and placed it at four different locations on my head, and declared "Yes, Indeed". Baka joked, "That is because he has lots of alcohol". The lady immediately picked it up and started, "Yes, see here in the front part of your head, this gets directly affected by alcohol, and thus it is drier. Needs to be like a tight rope.. blah! Blah!" BullShit.

 

Mrs. Yogita now suggested that I meet the trainer at the Gym. I admitted, "Well ma'am, enough of these GLOBE sessions, we have lots of them on college. I can even find the same info online, and if required myself take a session. Let me know if there is some action happening. Some tangible activity, that I can speak about" She declared, "NO, today all our people our busy" and again pointed to the voucher stating for a prior appointment. I persuaded her, and she asked me to come back in an hour. Okay great! Talking about this Mrs. Yogita as soon as I and Baka first saw her we smiled at each other and hushed in Telugu, "if she herself looks so bad with a pimple affected face, a skinny posture, and an awful smile, how possible could she treat others to look good." I tried to reason, "Come on Baka, Doctors themselves need not be perfectly in shape to be able to treat others. Look at our Doc – our Batch mate".

 

Now I need to frikkin' wait for the damn service for one complete hour. We go out ganjing. Already full with the biryani we don't feel like eating anything, and just while away our time wandering across the mall. We get back to the VLCC centre at 5:45PM, in forty five minutes itself.

 

After a fifteen minute wait there, we get this opportunity to meet the busy Mrs. Yogita. She expresses in despair that everyone is still caught up. She offers to arrange a meet with the trainer. Well, something better than just waiting and watching oversized aunties inn their gist to get back to their old sexy days. We went to the gym. A crap small room, filled with treadmill, and just having a couple of weights. I swear the IIML gym is better. The trainer – a bellied person, trying to look smart by conversing in English. And again the same pleasantry – "How are you sir? What do you do?" I reply, "I am a student at IIML", and the conversation carries on.

 

I guess this initial pleasantry is to gauge the worthiness of the client. If it is a HNI, give more time, else just shove him off. He shows me the equipment. "Dude, it is not my first time to a gym", I mutter to myself. And then he explains, "Body building is an art. It requires much more than will and dedication. It requires passion, earnest enthusiasm, .. Blah! Blah!.. ". "Dude, I have heard this lot of times, tell me something tangible". He starts off again, "It is important to have a good diet and a pleasant mind. Sleep is also necessary.. blah Blah!", "Stop stop dude, I know that. Tell me something that I can practise back in campus.", I say politely. He starts, "It requires a personal trainer to tone up the body. Here I would tell you something, you would do something, and then that would spoil my name and reputation (Does he have any?), as people would think I suggest these kind of wrong exercises. So I suggest you join in our three month program, I promise I would develop your body into a well toned full of muscles."

 

The last part of the talk was in Hindi. I guess his sales pitch has been trained upon him in Hindi. I bid him a good bye, with a promise to think about it. Think? Ba*&^!!

 

Then I get back to the waiting zone, looking at their clients. Here I would classify the customers into three categories:

 

1. Wannabies – Rich spoilt teenagers. The ones who don't mind spending a grand or two just to get that streak or that curl before that all important party of their cousin's birthday.
   

 

1. USA – Un Satisfied Aunties. The ones whose husbands toil out hard all day in the office, and they spend it all on kitty parties. Looking slim trim and tones is secondary. Going to VLCC itself is a status symbol for them.
   

   
    

2. OUU – Over Used Uncles. The rich ones, mostly those who have inherited wealth from their family. After a particular age, and having earned enough, these people believe that they need to look younger to their teenager son, and start dressing in Goa tees, loose jeans and even try to impress in their broken English.
   

   
    

(I am thankful to Mr. Rajeev Kumra, our service marketing prof. at IIML to have suggested these classification titles which seemed very apt in this situation.)

 

Now after enough of waiting, even Mrs. Yogita I guess feels bad, and falls to our patience. She is convinced that these guys here are determined to get something done, and offers something to talk. I ask if a facial would be possible. Baka tries pitting that this guy is going to Jaipur to attend a wedding, and in very high probability may get engaged. So he needs to look good. Please get something done. She replies," Sorry Facial is not included in the voucher". Thank you Baka for making it clear in the beginning itself that we not paying a single paisa more than the voucher amount. I am frustrated to the core, "What the fuck is allowed in this God Damn Voucher?", I say to myself. She reads the frustration, and applies principle 23 of Customer Servicing – Give something to the Customer when he reaches threshold of breaking out. Remember hannah's case in Data mining.

 

So Mrs. Yogita announces, " You can have a face wobble. It is about.. Blah!", "Okay". I am in no mood to hear what it is. She replies, "Please wait!" After about 15 minutes, she returns and asks me to come inside, "Ah! Finally" I ask Baka to wait and I enter. Well, I am asked to wait here now. Thankfully a short wait. And then I am called to the facial – 1 cabin, and asked to lie down on the bed. Looks so much like a hospital and it is a beauty clinic. The similarity is just the word clinic I am sure.

 

Lying on the bed, the guy there starts off with routine initial pleasantry. Damn! Now I am irritated with this. Please give different lines to different people, at least at different levels. The head of the clinic asks the same memorised question, and so does the attender. He applies some mint flavoured cream, which felt really cold in this winter. Wish I was availing these services during summer. At least the mint cream would have been worth the effort. After the mint cream, my face is again cleaned back to normal, and I all the time presume that yes! Now I have the Hrithik looks. The guy there then applies some cream, which looks like scrub and leaves it all over the face.

 

After leaving me and my face smeared with cream all over for more than ten minutes (the guy must have felt a sudden urge to smoke) the guy comes back with a huge machine. He nearly burns my face with all the steam from some machine. Then he holds two tong like things and starts giving me mild shocks on the face. Shit! I was scared. "Please please I would pay, don't give me a shock treatment", I wanted to shout. But, I preferred being silent. After sometime when the pain started getting unbearable I asked him what it was. He replies calmly as if this is something I get done everyday – "Nothing sir, it helps tightening your face". I was like, "yes, it would. You are burning half of the cells on my face". After the Shock treatment for 10 odd minutes, he starts wiping my face and all the cream over it. I was happy, "yes, it is finally getting over". I could not have been more wrong. He again applies some white cream and leaves me, while he takes away the huge machine from the cabin. "Ah! No more shock treatment". He comes back and then after removing this strange white cream, he applies the mint cream that he first applied. The mint cream was probably some kind of solution to disable me from feeling anything more on the face. After removing the white cream I was finally told that it is all over.

 

The guy exchanges pleasantries and asks me if this is my first session. I reply, "Yes, first and probably last". I don't want to condition third degree on myself voluntarily. I walk out of the cabin. The guy was actually pushing that I actually take the face and hair treatment packages both. Each of which exceeds 5000 bucks.

 

After the session, I walk jubilantly to Baka who controls his laugh in vain. He chuckles and asks, "Dude, where were you all this time?" I reply, with lots of pride, "Getting a face wobble done". He satirically mocks that I don't look any different. Huh! So much, for one complete hour of pain and misery inflicted by the process, not to forget the wastage of time.

 

We are then led to the same Mrs. Yogita's cabin who greets us with all enthusiasm. She chats normally and agrees to extend my voucher till my next visit. (She probably realised that this did not make a good conversion of a voucher holder to a permanent client). She then also tries to cross sell the hair cut and shave service, which again is not included in the voucher. I excuse myself with the promise that I would return back.

 

I walk out of the centre at around 7:30, quite unsatisfied.

 

Update: I got a call yesterday from the customer care at VLCC asking me for my feedback (Desperate attempts to convert me into a permanent client). I reply back rhetorically and express my despair with the whole affair. After some time I am again called by someone senior who tries to pacify me. The second customer care executive or whoever she was even offers to include all the services in the voucher and requests me to the come to the centre once again. NO!! I don't want to risk whatever minimal looks God has bestowed on me. Whatever minimal this looks might seem. I at least look like something Human.

 

Some comments on VLCC on the internet,

 

" .. thanks to this fat punjabi women. A few years back Ms Luthra promised white complexion a la Michael Jackson and created a frenzy and a furore. Now she is claiming a world record in achieving 82 Kgs fat loss. But the reality is very sad. I have seen a patient too weak even to walk, skin hanging in folds and on the verge of heart collapse after record breaking fat loss through chemical diets and apetite suppressants. There should be combined public opinion to ban such kind of unhealthy practices. The best way to weightloss should be under a medical supervision. A healthy lifestyle, excercise and a beautiful mind is all it takes - not some dumb blonde with hobby course certificates from foreign countries. i've closely seen how it all works and some people may view it as libel etc. but I have seen one of my friend's suffering and I feel I must tell others as well."

 

 

"..I took the Bridal package at VLCC Koramangala, Bangalore. I am EXTREMELY UNHAPPY AND DISSATISFIED with the kind of service being provided there. The only thing they are interested in is how to take out money from the customer. Once they are done they are least interested in attending the clients.i have spent 22K. But I didnt see single improvement. I have spent so much money there that I cant even afford to take the service from other parlour and nor I have the time to take the service as my marriage date is 27th April.

Some of the incidents I would like to mention:

1. Thrice i was given appointment during weekdays. After attending office when i reached there, the attender told me that she cannot provide the service as some or other has to leave early. I literally had to request them the provide the service as it was a bridal package and i couldn't postpone otherwise I ll not be able to complete all the sessions.

2. Even after taking the appointment for almost every session I have to wait for 1/2 an hr to take the service. so most of the time my waiting time is more than the time spent on giving services.

3. Most of the time staff remains busy in their cat fights, and least bothered about the client waiting to get the service.

4. Once I was given an appointment for hair spa. n no body was ready to do the service that time. When i forced for that, a new girl who didn't know abt the treatment was appointed to do the service.

5. I took the micro derma treatment costs 15K. I was assured that i ll see at least 40% relief. But after 2 sittings of the treatment, some other doctor started taking the session the and she told me that i should have taken the glycoloc peel and this treatment may not give any relief. Now i don't have time at al to go for some other treatment. I would request to take action against them as the staff at VLCC, Koramagala is spoiling the image. I would never ever recommend anybody or take the service from VLCC. "

 

Okay so it was not only me at the receiving end. Some Solace.

VLCC - Don't venture anywhere close!!!

VLCC?
I was never a metro sexual kinda person, to be thronging such places for external beauty. My visit to the barber was all that I actually did for the looks and even that just I look presentable. People staying with me would vouch on the fact that it is easier to live with the Taliban terrorists, rather than an unshaven, not bathed from 6 days, and not brushed Bharat Jhurani.

But of late, I have been getting these internal vibes to take care and look good. No, I am still single! This is what explains my daily tryst with the brush and Close up Calcium with added ingredients, new found garnier Fructis for the hair, Dove for the face, cinthol for the body and calmness for the mind. It also explains the reason I am bathing everyday in spite of the temperature not exactly being conducive for such an action.

Thus, a couple of days ago, when Chitta announced that he has a VLCC voucher worth 5000 bucks, i immediately laid my hands on it. But Abhinav, being that huge and rusty guy he is, had the better of Chitta and overpowered him to take the voucher. Now I had this seemingly tough task of convincing Abhinav to part with the voucher.

I went to Abhinav’s room, and praised him Explained to him that he looks great, and such VLCC likes are for lesser mortals, ugly looking ducks like me (Generally it would require lots of chocolates for me to actually say this). Nah! Abhinav did not agree. Come on even he is an IIM MBA. One more trick in Strategic Business Negotiation – The Amitabh trick. Remember an old Indian Amitabh flick where he buys an house for double the price, and tells the builder that even if he had charged 4 times the actual price, Amitabh would still have paid it, as his mother worked on the construction. Thus, the value of the product perceived by different people is different.

I offered Abhinav a full pack of Classic regular, and he immediately agreed. 5000 bucks voucher for just 88 bucks. Cool deal that was. But well, as I said, perception of value. And moreover, Abhinav earned that pack just for overpowering Chitta. He did not have anything to lose.

Anyways, so on 25th December, me and Baka set out for VLCC. First a Mutton biryani at Spice, recharge for the reliance data card, and then off to Sahara ganj to VLCC.
With lots of scepticism, and initial doubts, we entered the premise. Wait! Sujith was already sitting there, and on further probing we found that he had come here for some scalp thing. Anyways, I head to the reception and show here this voucher, and ask her for assistance. She asks me to wait.

After an irritating wait, my eyes found a board asking to request for a service menu. Wah! Now beauty has been turned into a restaurant business. Many therapies on the platter please fulfil your satisfaction. Anyways, I am not able to make much sense out of it, and just ask for a pedicure and Manicure. “ No, Sir. That is not available with the voucher”. The receptionist says. “Where is it written?”, I ask to myself in a flabbergasted look. The receptionist there understands my confusion and helplessness and offers me to meet the head receptionist (or was she the owner?) there after some time. So wait once again.

After another 25 minutes, and a couple of enquiries about this busy head I am about to meet, I am introduced to Mrs yogita (I am sure she was married by her age, marred with a lot of make up to cover it up), who led me to her cabin. She also invited Baka to come along. After the initial pleasantries, which proved that she was a good employee for the hospitality business she let it out that everyone is busy, (Are me and Baka the only vela people), and she was afraid she cannot get anything arranged for that day. To calm down my angry disappointed looks, and with the fear that she might lose the IIML account, she pointed towards the voucher which had Meet with prior appointment as the first point behind it. She then offered us to meet the beautician and the gym trainer. I asked Baka too make it very clear to her that we are not going to pay a paisa more than the voucher, so whatever she does, and even if she does not offer any services, its not an issues as long as she does not expect me to dole out a single penny. This was out of fear from Chitta’s INDEX incident.

Supposedly, the Mr INDEX last year, was awarded with a similar coupon and he went to VLCC. Like the typical Indian middle class, he did not declare the voucher in the beginning fearing drop in service level, and got himself a complete makeover. He got himself done all possible services on offer. After the whole day of beautification he proudly walked to the reception to produce the voucher, where he was handed a bill of twelve thousand rupees. Aghast! He cried foul, and refused to pay. The people there at VLCC tried explaining that not everything is included in the voucher, and he has to pay the bill. The issue is right now in court with the customer filing a complaint against VLCC, and even blaming INDEX for not informing him of any such issue. How could they? They themselves did not have a clue of the whole thing. Well, I did not want to land in such a situation spending ten grand on my looks, which I am very sure would not change much just by some sessions at this fraud entity. Why fraud? Well, you would say the same after reading the entire plight.

The rest of the incident would be in the next post. In the meantime, don’t venture anywhere near these VLCC types, citing Short term memory loss. This irritating incident should be etched permanently in everyone’s mind even if the head is blowed by heavy iron shots by some Ghajini.

Damn the Indian Railways

Now you know why I hate the Indian Railways so much? Nah! How would you know? Let me explain.

My cousin is getting married this Monday in Jaipur. So my parents decided that we all attend it. We planned that they fly from Vizag to Delhi on 27th December (today), and I would join them at the airport travelling by train from Lucknow. Initially I was sceptical that I would get bored all morning in Delhi as my train was scheduled to reach at 8AM in the morning, and their flight was scheduled to land at 2PM. Six long hours in Delhi.

Thanks to Ahen, we decided that we could meet up and spend the morning chatting. Awesome, I was eagerly waiting. 6hours well spent, and then right in time to the airport to carry forward with journey till Jaipur.

But well, thanks to Indian Railways, I miss my date with Ahen, and now I am also forced to ask my parents to wait at the airport rather than me waiting for them (which was supposed to happen!!). I am sure m brother would mock more at me. He is 2000 odd KMs from Delhi, while I am just 500KM away. But in spite of starting out last night, and he just having started at 11:30AM, he has reached earlier than me. Air travel! And damn the Indian Railways.

Thankfully I am in 3rd ac, and quite comfortable comparatively. I just shudder to the thought of people in sleeper class. They must have frozen to death by now. What I don’t understand is – Lucknow to Delhi takes about 7hrs by train. So, starting at 11:30PM last night, we were supposed to reach at 6:30Am (the right time was 8:15AM). Cool agreed! It is 2PM now, and the train I hear is expected to reach Delhi at about 3:30PM. That makes it a 16hrs travel. Assuming that the night journey was slowed down by the fog, and starting at 7Am in the morning, it should have reached by 2PM (7hrs journey). What was the train engrossed in all night? Dating and mating with another train, while all its inmates were dead sleeping? Well, if that was the case, I should say quite a silent affair it was. Huh!

Totally frustrated!! Now I hope the expectations are not changed again. Please let me reach Delhi by 3:30PM. Luckily I don’t have any flight to board, or thanks to the low cost airways (my general carriers) and the Indian rail, I would have forfeited all my money. But yeah, I still have important stuff to do. It is my parents’ anniversary and I don’t want them to spend it all travelling – Air and then Cab till Jaipur!!!

Down with the Indian Railways!!! When would we get the EU rail kinda thing in India?

Wanted to blog about my weird experience at VLCC, but well I guess with this mood it would not come all that funny!

Also, a Merry Christmas to all my reader. A little belated though!

VelaGiri

Heard of a lot of RGGIRI when i entered IIML. how rampant it is? How it creates rifts between friends? and the dreaded outfalls of it. BUt never ever thought i would get involved in VelaGiri - Process of doing nothing fruitful and wasting all the time on hand.

Something that i wrote in my diary last night - "Wasted the entire day, without opening the book for a single minute. 12 midnight now, royalstag bottle lying on the bed seductively, and yesterday's hangover still looming large in the head. 'anger Management' movie ready on the lappy and have just completed 'Sorry Bhai'.Ah! Now this is how hectic IIM life is!!"

Especially after this PPO thing i have become quite laid back in life. not interested in anything, be ready to rebel anyone, don't care attitude. Doing everything which i am actually not. Why? joblessness!! they say it right " An empty mind is the devil's workshop", and amm sue the devil is having a gala time in this workshop. Very active indeed.

Have an exam tomorrow, and have still not opened the book. Initially i had thought that i have two days of holidays before the exam and would complete the entire text twice and even practice problems on the software. now i doubt if i would even be able to complete the text half way through. Huh! VelaGiri!!!

tasteless they say

This post is not meant for people who are not aware of the site pagalguy.com and not recommended even to those who don't visit it frequently. There is a disturbing post out there, which i quote here, and i would not like to spread it.

Continue at your own risk.

pagalguy.com, started of well, targeted a very niche market of MBA aspirants, which has seen a substantial rise in numbers from the time the site was launched. recently they even celebrated their 2 millionth registered user. It has 11 million odd posts in 30 thousand odd threads. topics as diverse as movies, to the last AIMCAT, PM to velagiri, it covered everything, and it was quite informative for people like me, who got a chance to meet so many matching my way of thinking.

Then why did they have to this??. Hosting a video where some C girls are swearing at a rival college, and using 'Tasteless' language. giving it a fancy title - "Indian institute of tasteless language".

To attract more users?? Does it need to stoop to such a low level to gain such numbers? It may defend it saying, This is what happens in Top B-Schools of the country. Yeah! true, but do the aspirants( to whom the site is targeted) really need to know this?

What about the students featured there?? All girls! Future leaders. Creme of the country. I wish these girls take up a defamation suit against these people. PG would say it has blurred the faces to protect identity. A siple search "IIMC XL" shows the video in the top 3 results of YOutube. unblurred here, mind it.

Instead of this, if there was a video or n article on more important issues like "fake" B-schools, trends of the latest courses in these Schools, interviews with successful students, it would be momre beneficial to its student. This is like the typical Indian Masala movie, where i do want to spread the message, but wait! it has to run on the box office, so show mallika sultry boody, and a rain dance by Kangana. Why?? so, to include the first benchers, the lechers! n go to hell with the real purpose of the message movie.

Commercialism creeps in, and has not left even this place. Sad!!

Seriously did not expect this kind of gimmick by a site of such stature to whom i had high regard, and partly owe my being here at L!