'Test'ing times

We all hate exams, don't we? I am no exceptions to this and I am being quite vociferous about it. When every new course starts, the first thing i do is count the number of exams I have to write. Nevertheless the number of exams I write have come down over the years.

When I was in my 10th grade, my dad used to say, "do this exam well and you can enjoy the rest of your college life". Its been 6 years since and he still says the same things. I have to say the law of diminishing marginal utility has come to play. After the 10th, it was 12th. It felt like being tied with a tether and being told, "go, you may go as far as you want". It was a never ending cycle of exams after exams. Sometimes a class test and sometimes a preparatory exam. By the time final exams come, I used to be so tired of exams that the sense of purpose is totally lost.

But that was still early days. I had to write the all important CAT. And guess what, I voluntarily took the trouble of enrolling into a tutorial. It easily broke all my previous record for preparatory exams put together. On D day, the questions were as Greek and Latin to me as they were to me before I enrolled to the tutorial. Nevertheless the law of averages caught up with me and I did pretty okay. Many students across the nation had similar horrors and I benefited.

The saga of writing exams continues and it doesnt seem like there is going to be any respite. Good night. I have an exam tomorrow!!!

The art of 'Slang'ing

We all love our slang, don't we? I had once traveled west and in my conversations with the taxi driver, I discovered how is still there for me to learn! We were discussing Kebabs and he suddenly said, "Aap kya Khaate? bade ka ya chote ka? I was taken aback, not knowing how to respond. Weather to accept my ignorance or fake knowledge. I did the wise thing, I asked him "ye bada-chota kya hai". He then explained that by Bada he meant Cow meat and Chota meant Goat meat. Huh! safe I clarified. Had I chosen an option I would have had either of those animals for dinner that day. (clarification: I don't eat either of those animals)

Hey, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. There is such progress in these slangs that it is difficult to catch up. We generally use the terminology 'lol' quite frequently. Some of the people whom I have interacted with have no clue what it is. When that happens all I end up doing is share some GYAN(wow impact, that was a slang). The Slang has progressed to such an extent that today there are slang dictionaries and encyclopedia. Wonder whats in them.

let me try to decipher a few of them:

Fitting- Complain behind one's back (usage- yen amma, FITTING it bittiya?)
Ticket- In the death bed (usage- Looks like he might take the TICKET anytime now)
Gyan- explain something boring(usage- now he'll start giving GYAN about himself)
ROTFL- Rolling on the floor laughing( good one! ROTFL!)
Ganga Jal- Alchohol (usage- join us for some late evening GANGA JAL)

There are many more things which are way too complicated, for more GYAN log on to Google and search SLANG in any language you want. You will find a million pages!

Of Mathematics and equations

From my childhood, if there is one subject I have dreaded and loved equally, it has gotta be Mathematics. I m sure many of us fall in the same bracket as I do. In my schooling probably I spent a fair bit of my time in the maths special class(specially for the math illiterates). Somehow it seemed to be one subject that wasn't made for me. The lovely affair between maths and me still continues.....
Hey, but there were bits when I felt maths was good too. Specially in the Geometry classes when I had to explore my all important Geometry Box. There was a fun factor filled using the compass, divider, protractor and the 2 triangles(I forgot in what they are called). At least there were somethings which we did not have to prove. Math was all about proving and disproving. There were questions which said

(sinx) / (1+cosx) = tan(x/2) prove LHS=RHS

My answer always would be : "how the hell am I suppose to know." It has been years and I still fail to understand why it is important. What am I going to achieve by proving that LHS=RHS.
To add to my woes, there came "Probability". It is defined as the chance of an event happening!!!!
lol
All i could do while I learnt this subject was gape in awe at the magnitude of what we were doing. At times I asked a few professors, "Sir, why do we do this, Give me a practical example where such abstract sciences has really been of help in making Business Decisions." Surprisingly, I did get some replies and to be honest they were 'as ridiculous as ridiculous can be'.
If there was ever a paper that I have comfortably completed before the bell goes off, it has always been Maths paper. That paper had been too simple for my complex brain. Often my answers lasted a few lines irrespective of how many marks they carried.
Years went by, governments came and fell, the economy went from boom to depression, 22 years went by, but my dreadful romance with mathematics continues(rather rages on).
Hopefully my Mathematics teachers don't read this post............I will be the one student they will be proud of........

Mumbai: lessons learnt and soon forgotten

In the wake of the recent mumbai blasts, there were many viewpoints put forward by the citizens of India. While many asked for a rejig of the political system, many wanted us, the citizens, to be more proactive. I was one of them. After the incident, I am not irritated by the constant check that I face in many places. I respect the neighbourhood policemen more than ever before. I believe that if the state of the nation has to change, it has to start from us. 

I was today driving in the Jayanagar area of Bangalore. At a particular traffic junction, the red light was on,and while I promptly stopped my vehichle, I saw another vehichle moving ahead. A very practicle example of what I am talking about. We want a change but are not ready to make the change ourselves. We just talk the talk, never walk the talk. 

I was very proud the way the country came forward to show their solidarity today. I was proud the way people were united for one cause. I was proud the way we came forward from various walks of life. I was proud the way we answered fanatics like Raj thakrey that while Mumbai bled, the whole of the nation was with them. It wasn't a cliched candlelight walk which is forgotten the very next day. While on most occasions we have seen that, we are all fired up the first day and the lessons are forgotten the next day. I hope that doesn't happen this time. 

Very strangely, i came across a few pakistani news channels, which, instead of mending fences were trying to worsen the situation. There were reports that the attacks, like 9/11 was a handiwork of the Indian intelligence. This was very sad considering the situation which India was facing. Whie I have nothing against pakistan, I believe it is time they mature, and mature as Journalists, statesmen, world citizens, and most importantly as Human beings. 

While a war of words has alredy risen between the two countries, there is a very good chance that this is going to get outrightly dirty.  And for all we know Pakistan is going to be on the receiving end. Both countries are in the midst of an economic turmoil and the last thing they want is a war. Its time diplomacy takes over and better sense prevails in the region. While I say that, it is also very important that Pakistan takes stringent action aginst the terror camps operating in Pakistan or else there is every chance India could knock the daylights off that country. Then all we may know of Pakistan may be from the HISTORY books. 

Mumbai 26/11: a change in perspective....

The terror attacks have torn apart Mumbai city yet again and all we could do as citizens was to see the horror unfold. I believe that now is the time to seriously introspect. Only a few months back we heard a jerk called Raj Thackeray voicing out concerns that Marathi manoos were not getting enough and that his so called brave Sena can change the situation in mumbai. Where was his great Sena when all this was happening. All that was done was by the commandos who called themselves INDIAN. I am sure he was sitting in a corner of his bungalow like a whimp looking at all that was happening.

Let me not spare the other politicians who are more interested in gaining mileage from the incident. The home minister resigned accepting 'moral responsibility'. Come to think of it I would rather call him a coward who is running away from responsibility. A responsible person would have taken stern actions such that another such incident dare not happen in the country. Manmohan singh is a misfit in this kind of situation. He lacks the conviction to fight terror (in at least the way he speaks). I saw his speech to the nation and it was disappointing. I believe it is time to allow professionals to handle the areas of national security and be given absolute anonymity in doing so.

This time it was the foreigners targeted and so the attack got international coverage. I m sure that if the incident did not involve these people, none would have bothered. There would be just another "We condemn the incident and our hearts go out to all the aggrieved families" statement and that would be it. It is such a shame that we as humans can be so naive when it comes to empathizing with others.

Now the way forward.........

The police was absolutely unprepared to combat a bunch of school kids. What is wrong with the country's security. The police is paid peanuts and asked to fight for the country. We have one jerk of a government which is even not ready raise the pay scales for the country's heroes. The equipment given to these forces are below par. Look at what the ATS chief Karkare was wearing when he was shot dead. Someone in one of the news channels even claimed that in a shooting range when the helmets were tested, there were holes made in it. Our politicians are given so much security, why??? People should be asking who is protecting the innocents .... Mayawati wants a Plane for herself and was sanctioned 55 crore for this. The NSG commandos had to be flown to mumbai but did not have a plane fast enough and hence the mission was delayed by 10 hours. Surprising.........!!!there is more. Then there are politicians that try gaining political mileage even from such gory incidents. Narendra modi had no business at the Tajmahal hotel when the operation was on, but he was present there. He was the same person who was questioning the integrity of Karkare a few days back, and now was hailing him as a hero. Once the Nariman house operation was over, there was another politician Munde there. What was he trying to do there??? searching for militants in the crowds???? opportunist!!!

How many terror attacks have we seen in the USA after9/11...nil. But look at India there have been attacks again an again as if it was a alarm clock on Snooze. We are still not bothered... Now is the time to ask Questions. What has our famed political done for us. Now that Shivraj pati has resigned, it is expected that Chidambaram will take over..........but I have a problem there...He is the same person who couldn't look after the finance ministry properly, how can he handle the home ministry??? For god's sake, Give me a break...

To the bravehearts, policemen and military personnel, we owe a lot to you. It is about time we have a system like Singapore where all individuals have compulsory military training. We never know when it may come of use to the nation.

To all the people of India, Vote to the right people. I am aware that most people standing in the fray are crooks, still there are individuals who have courage and conviction to speak in the best interest of the country. Let us bring them forward. let us decide who becomes a part of the government. Let us decide what happens in our country...............

A Change In Perspective

Recently, I came across a quote that said, "How many times have we felt that the person driving slower than you is an Idiot and a the one faster is a maniac?" Really well said considering that we all complain about things, but fail to follow them ourselves.

I have come across many people who constantly blame the system for its defects; in fact I myself do criticize things for the way things are around us; but then, let us put ourselves on the other side of the table where we are the ones in the receiving end, then one might realize the tough situation.

Probably, we need to think more regularly from the other persons point of view! may be!!!