Random

Time runs.

The day I locked D-42 for the official Delhi/Dehradun tour seems like yesterday. But the desktop monthly sheet here says it was a good 15 days back. Don't worry..this post is not going to be a summary of my life over the last two weeks, ...not because it is going to bore you, but because it is impossible to capture this time frame with the keyboard. Here are some random lines.

* It was great feeling to be inside the campus of our Parliament...I also took a stroll in those corridors with the imposing, jurassic pillars. Flashes of the Tamil film Iruvar (Maniratnam/1997) came to my mind. Also the greatest speech given by Sh. Jawaharlal Nehru.

* Felt quite privileged to be inside Rashtrapati Bhawan. You got to see it to believe it....it's an amazing place...palace! I was reminded of a few scenes in Muthalvan. (Shankar/1999)

* Beyond a point, it was really difficult to resist the gulab jamun or the samosa that featured regularly in the high teas. I will check up my weight tomorrow.

* Government job, generally = hierarchy + conformity + meetings

* Really impressed by two speakers during our module on NRM (Natural Resource Management) at Dehradun. One was on tigers... I think we guys (human beings) are really screwing up all other species on this planet.

* Getting out of a comfort group is really difficult for most of us.. but is it really needed to attach oneself with new groups often?

* Mussourie has always brought me a deep feeling of nostalgia. This time was no exception...the only difference being that, the feeling was deeper this time.

* Naan kadavul (Bala/2009) is not as powerful as his earlier films. But this one is far superior to SDM (Boyle/2008) that claims to have covered the Indian reality in a really real way.

* It is just a beginning for ARR...he will rule the music world in the years to come.

* Indian Institute of Petroleum. Mokhampur. Mixed feelings. I had worked on developing a DCC (Deep Catalytic Cracking) catalyst there. Sorry..not to scare you..I was just trying to recollect my project title. I'm scared now.

* Early morning walks can be really refreshing. But, getting out of the warm quilt in a cool, early morning....?


Btw, this photograph was taken around 0730 hours at FRI (Forest Research Institute), Dehradun. Try to go there if you get a chance...you'll feel like being in some heritage university campus in Europe.

* Got the chance to taste the best set of vadas made ever.. Thanks to the Mussourie friends...and the cook, Karnan. Cooking: art/science = 80/20 or 100/0 ?

* Idea might be a bad idea when it comes to roaming. Either the network is not available or your balance drains out at jet speed.

* Loved Dev.D. Missed 13B. Waiting for Gulaal.

* How often you feel like being alone? Daily/Weekly/Monthly? Or hourly?? Well..if you are around with more than hundred and fifty people at any point of time for a prolonged time..it definitely got to be hourly.

* Hard work pays? I'm not sure.

* It is painful to see the way railway tracks and the trains on them shredding Rajaji national park and making elephants' lives a dog's life.

* Some apparently well-educated people are extremely unaware of basic public manners...esp the ones who shout and laugh loudly till late night, even during train journeys.

* Knowledge is power supreme.

* Imagining India. Innum sila sindhanaigal (Some more thoughts). India: Development and Participation. Something like an autobiography. In which Annie gives it those ones. 50 Psychology classics. Got. Not read.

Oh!! Even before I could complete typing this my Idea network has already vanished!

I should make it a point to take my BSNL when I go back to Delhi for my personality test in another two weeks' time.

:) :)

The Seven Habits

With the very short period of time available with me to type this post, let me take a walk down the memory lane to brush up the pages of one of the books, among the very few books, that I have read fully in my life. The book is one among the million books that claim to have sold over many million copies...It is Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I’m sure this book would have genuinely sold over many million copies; and millions of people would have been benefitted by the book. I had a brush with this book in the late 90s, when I was a bright* Chemical engineering graduate. The book had a huge and spontaneous impact on me. And till today I clearly remember what those seven habits were....but the problem is that I just remember them. Those habits exist only in my mindscape. Over the past one decade or so those seven habits have tried hard to jump out of my mental makeup and see the real world, but only in vain. Not even one of them could face reality so far.

And things have gone to that extent that here I’m about to tell you about another set of seven habits – The Seven Habits of Highly Defective People

Habit 1 – Don’t work. Just network.
Habit 2 – The best decision is no decision.
Habit 3 – Be safe; Be with the crowd.
Habit 4 – Over-promise; Under-deliver.
Habit 5 – Talk like an expert.
Habit 6 – Delegate everything; Claim everything.
Habit 7 – Be everywhere; Do nothing.

More Habits are welcome....
Any?

[*Though I was never even close to being a bright student..it gives me a good ego boost whenever I say that I was a bright student]