Ajay - On the Road called Life!

This last week (since Saturday) has been rather painful in some aspects. For some strange reason my head started throbbing Saturday evening. I assumed it to be lack of sleep and so headed off home from Marise’s place.

Went for mass at the Sacred Heart Church in Worli on Marise’s invitation. She wanted me to do the reading there, so did just that. Didn’t realize I had a singing session coming as well!

Tried to get rid of the headache with enough sleep and water, but neither worked.

Had to go to R’s place as she had invited all of us over to her place. The ride the Thane was fun, big empty roads. The two crocins before helped for a few hours. Had plans to go to Worli but wasn’t in a position to do so and headed back home.

Two crocins in the evening and a ton of water did end the headache, with just lingering splits all through Monday.

Was perfectly fine on Tuesday. Also completed the project I was working on and have been assigned another.

We received our cheque for our stipend yesterday. Money finally

And today yours truly managed to get a catch in my neck. It sure has been a pain in the neck.
I’m hoping it is good tomorrow.

My Dad sent me an email today of an online system to address grievances in India. The mail goes like this:

Can you imagine this happening in INDIA ?

Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/

The government wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.

I know many people will say that these things don’t work in India , but this actually works as one of the person working in CSC found. The guy I’m talking about lives in Faridabad . Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents including this guy. But it was only this guy! Who used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. And to his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad was served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it’s clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all.

So use this grievance forum and educate others who don’t know about this facility.
This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the ‘ System’ in India

Can’t believe my last personal post was on March 4th.. Then we were just getting into the exam spirit and a lot has happened since then.

For starters, we had to get through a barrage of exams, that just didn’t seem to stop. Everyone desperately looked towards March 29th, the last day of the exams, also the day when we could all rush home.

Exams were ok, though they seem to be at some point of my distant past!

Headed to Mumbai on 29th, dropped off my bags, picked up my bike from ABJ, who has been taking good care of it.

Work began on April 7th. I got placed at eClerx. The place turned out to be in Ghatkopar, a part of the city I don’t normally frequent. It turned out that the place is just 20 minutes from my home when I ride through Powai. Also end up skipping most of the traffic.
The place is good. Was given a choice of my project and chose one which turned out to be live in the field of Finance, IT and a bit of Operations. Well, I’m glad.

The first week was spent with reading as my immediate guide was on leave, but the week after that things took off at top speed. Jobs great so far. Doing well I guess. Hope it continues that way for the next five weeks.

Also been spending a good amount of time with Marise atleast on weekends. We watched Transformers (my review) and The Spiderwick Chronicles (my review).

Had plans to catch many more movies, but for some strange reason there is absolutely no good movie running! Isn’t this summer vacation time?

That’s just about everything I have been up to, viz. work and weekends. No holidays, except for May 1, which was treated as another weekend

Had a lot of plans these two months, but have surely been out of touch with a lot. Going to take a while to get back. I’ll be back

After watching this movie I realized that it’s been a while since I grew up!

Spiderwick Chronicles is a tale of fairies and ogres. Jared and Simon Grace (Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) are brought by their mother (Mary-Louise Parker) to the Spiderwick Estate after her husband leaves her.

What seems to be an old rundown place turns out to be a home with a past, a strange past that Jared stumbles upon when he finds and reads a book written by his great-grand uncle Arthur Spiderwich. A book about fairies and ogres and the secrets in that realm. A book that is hunted by the ogre Mulgarath so that he can take over the world.

It is up to the children to find a way to stop the evil ogre. In the process they need to battle several creatures as well as befriend many more.

I should have skipped this one…

My rating: 6/10

Imax Adlabs offers special Rs.49 prices for movie tickets in some shows before 6pm.
So, went off to watch Transformers in the Imax Dome.

Excellent experience, but the fast paced movie was kinda overwhelming.

Transformers tells the story of Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a young teenager who convinces his father to buy him a car, a car that would change his life.
The car turns out to be Bumblebee, an Autobot sent to protect him from the Decepticons. Both, the Autobots and the Decepticons are after the Allspark, a cube, with the power to create life. While the Autobots had managed to smuggle the Allspark off their planet, Megatron, the head of the Decepticons followed the Allspark to earth, but crashed before he could retrieve the same. Megatron was later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, the grandfather of young Sam.

The story continues in perfect predictable style with Sam joining the Autobots in their fight against Megatron and the other Decepticons.

Overall the movie is done really well. Sam plays a really good role and talking robots … who wouldn’t love them

Worth watching once. Nice cars and vehicles to watch. Its fun. However, I do suggest a flat screen!

My rating: 7/10

It’s amazing, you will understand the above word by the end of the conversation…

Read aloud for best results. “Tendjewberrymud” Be warned, you’re going to find yourself talking “funny” for a while after reading this.

The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the FarEast Economic Review…

Room Service (RS): “Morny. Ruin sorbees”
Guest (G): “Sorry, I thought I dialled room-service”
RS: “Rye.. Ruin sorbees.. morny! Djewish to odor sunteen??”
G: “Uh.. yes.. I’d like some bacon and eggs”
RS: “Ow July den?”
G: “What??”
RS: “Ow July den?… pry, boy, pooch?
G : “Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please.”
RS: “Ow July dee bayhcem… crease?”
G: “Crisp will be fine.”
RS : “Hokay. An San tos?”
G: “What?”
RS: “San tos. July San tos?”
G: “I don’t think so”
RS: “No? Judo one toes??”
G: “I feel really bad about this, but I don’t know what ‘judo one
toes’ means.”
RS: “Toes! toes!… why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow singlish mopping
we bother?”
G: “English muffin!! I’ve got it! You were saying ‘Toast.’ Fine.
Yes, an English muffin will be fine.”
RS: “We bother?”
G: “No.. just put the bother on the side.”
RS: “Wad?”
G: “I mean butter… just put it on the side.”
RS: “Copy?”
G: “Sorry?”
RS: “Copy… tea… mill?”
G: “Yes. Coffee please, and that’s all.”
RS: “One Minnie. Ass ruin torino fee, strangle ache, crease baychem,
tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy…. rye??”
G: “Whatever you say”
RS: “Tendjewberrymud”
G : “You’re welcome.”

A new sign in the Bank Lobby reads:

‘Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through ATM machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles.

Customers using this new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts.

After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE Procedures have been developed… Please follow the Appropriate steps for your gender.’

*******************************

MALE PROCEDURE:

1. Drive up to the cash machine.

2. Put down your car window.

3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.

4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.

5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.

6. Put window up.

7. Drive off.

**************************

FEMALE PROCEDURE:

Unfortunately, most of this part is the Truth!!!

1. Drive up to cash machine.

2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.

3. Set parking brake, put the window down.

4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.

5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.

6. Attempt to insert card into machine.

7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.

8. Insert card.

9. Re-insert card the right way.

10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.

11. Enter PIN.

12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.

13. Enter amount of cash required.

14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.

15. Retrieve cash and receipt.

16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.

17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.

18. Re-check makeup.

19. Drive forward 2 feet.

20. Reverse back to cash machine. !

21. Retrieve card.

22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided!

23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.

24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.

25. Redial person on cell phone.

26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.

27. Release Parking Brake.

The past week I have followed a rather standard routine.

A sample process flow for a day is given below… note for sake of readability it has been shown as a single flow, however it is a vicious cycle.

Today was the reFCQ for Six Sigma. We were surprised to find a 45minute theory paper given for just 30minutes. Considering that the rest of the batch gave a semi objective paper, this one was a killer! Tomorrow is the Operations Management reFCQ with the full portion… God bless me

On better notes, had a good Spanish viva last week as well as a few good tests to which I actually knew the answers too Now, the corrections will make a decision.

We got a 17/20 in the Brand Management presentation we gave last week and a 50/50 in the Managerial Communication Presentation which were at the top of our batch

However, one thing for sure is that thanks to the bell curve grading system that we follow, we won’t be ending up with great GPAs this semester.

Well, our batch (except for a few bookworms) are definitely on a rollercoaster ride this semester. Every single FCQ that comes our way seems to be a major disaster.

Because of oversmartness or sheer stupidity, a perfectly well going FM paper was set on the path of ruin. Finance students are now in a state of hope and despair!

Operations Management is one subject that is also in an equal state of disarray with a lab exam with two questions nobody knew the answers of or were not able to complete it in time!

We also made a presentation in Brand Management based on a Starbucks case by Mary Crossan and Arif Kachra. This required us to sleep for less than 3 hours on Saturday morning.
The same repeated itself today as we worked all through the night to get our Marketing Research paper ready for tomorrow.
I don’t see much sleep tonight as well considering that we have two FCQs tomorrow, Spanish and Technology in Business tomorrow evening, a possible Spanish viva tomorrow morning and a Sales and Distribution assignment submission as well.

I need to sleep!