Munnabhai MBBS: Lessons for life

Ever since i have seen this movie a few years back, a lot of concepts and fundas used have greatly influenced me. Everytime people talk to me about something related i dont mind using these instances. So here are my lessons from one of my favourite movies.

Thank you to the Sweeper
The scene begins with an elderly sweeper mopping the floor. The floor is all wet and Sanjay Dutt accidently walks over leaving stains. The sweeper in an irritated mood cribs that now he will have to clean the whole thing all over again. Sanjay Dutt stops and hugs him. On seeing the confused look on the guys face, Dutt explains to him that if he wasnt there the hospital would have never been clean enough to cure the patients. Its him who cleans every thing without a word from vomit to shit. Dutt says Thank you and moves on much to the delight of the sweeper

Later in the movie when Munna is being thrown out of college this sweeper stops the way of the dean. The dean in his anger shouts," who are you?" The sweeper replies." I have been working here for 20 years and you dont even know my name. Look at Munna, he ackowledged my contribution and said Thank you."

Lesson 1
No work is to be considered bad or demeaning. Every job has its benefits without which the equilibrium will be disturbed. There is this concept of dignity of labour. Respect each ones job

Lesson 2
There is no loss in saying Thank You to someone whom you feel deserves it. It doesnt cost you anything and it barely takes a second but these 2 words may mean the world to someone.

The song in the hospital
Jimmy Shergill has been detected with cancer and he is soon gonna succumb to it. He is depressed and upset that having not lived life fully, how will he fulfil all his dreams and aspirations. That night Munna sends dancers who change the environment of the hospital and in the song they sing are the lessons to be learnt

Lesson 3
There is one solution to all pain. What is past is past. Whats left live to the fullest.
Always remember life is only a 4 day journey which should not be wasted. Enjoy each moment as if your last. Go through each day as if its the end. Because on your deathbed you dont regret what you do, you regret what you didn't do.


Sunil Dutt and the pickpocket
Sunil Dutt has just arrived at Mumbai station when he gets pickpocketed. Somehow the crowd gets hold of the pickpocket and start thrashing him. Sunil Dutt stops them and says since he was the victim , he will decide the punishment. He turns to the pickpocket and says, " you see the eyes of these people. see the frustration, see the anger. Someone has had a fight with their wife, someone is angry at their kids for not studying well, some are angry at the Indian cricket team for not playing well, somebody is upset at the government because the roads are not good enough, someone is angry at their boss. See the accumulated frustration which these guys are looking for a vent for. If i hand you over to them imagine how much you would be beaten up"

Lesson 4
Todays world is indeed full of stress and frustration. Agreed the times are so but even in this competititve environment we need to keep ourselves cool. And accumulating of stress in harmful in the long run so beware. And dont you take out that anger/ frustration/ tension on someone who doesnt deserve it

Jaadu ki Jhappi
One of the greatest concepts of this movie was the Jaadu ki Jhappi (the magic hug). The solution to every problem. It indeed works. No matter how tensed you are, no matter how bad the situation is, no matter what the sorrow....a hug always makes you feel better. Be it your mom, your friend, your girlfriend or even a complete stranger... it works..

Lesson 5
Go out and spread the magic....The magic of Jaadu ki Jhappi

9/11.... 8 years on.... The Untold Story

11th Sept 2001.... Osama Bin Laden and his planes shook the world.... And altered the history of United States and the World......
You reading this expecting something on the similar lines, arent you? If you are, you would be highly disappointed....

Because 8 years ago....one more world got altered.....my world.... The day which changed me, which made me what i am....

Rewind.... 9/11/2001..... 2.45pm.... Tuesday
Venue.... Little Flower School, Jamshedpur.... corridor in front of Principals office
Protagonists.... V (Name changed to maintain anonymity) and Sampark....Two normal 9th graders

Situational Analysis.....
We were just back from our chemistry practical test... we were standing in line waiting for the dismissal prayer to happen and run home.... i was standing in line behind V.... And suddenly a buzzzz happened that the prinicipal was approaching from the back.....

(Principal: Sister Helena, Irish Nun, Aged 65-70, White robe, Dreaded by many and the principal for the last 25 years, does not understand hindi )

And me, dont know why, was in a different mood that day.... I leaned forward and kept whispering in V's ear "Budhiya aa rahi hai, budhiya aa rahi hai" (Old lady is coming, old lady is coming) and before i noticed the old lady was standing beside me. "What are you 2 upto. Come out of the line"

We stood outside the line till the prayer got over and were then directed to Sister's office. V was called in..

(V. Kumar... One of my best friends... fantastic student... went on to become the captain of the Yellow house)

Sister: "What were you two talking about"
V:" Nothing sister, we are sorry"
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Sister:" Tell me or i would suspend u"
V:" Sister, he was cracking jokes"
Sister: "What jokes"
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V:" Sister he was cracking jokes on you"
Sister: " Tell me what jokes or both of you get suspened"
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V: " Sister he said, " Old lady is coming"

Boom, Baam, Dhishum and on and on and on

For the 1st time in my educational career, i messed with someone and that also with the prinicipal....

I was called in and given the dose of my life (22years). I was shouted at and screamed at and told not to come to the school next day.
I walked out crying and sobbing not knowing what to do.

At this point, would like to share another story which i came to know only later on
One of my male teachers was walking home when he saw me coming out of the office crying. he caught hold of one of my classmates and asked him what had happened... when this friend of mine narrated the whole OLD LADY episode my teacher gave him this odd look and replied, " What wrong did he say" He was one of the coolest teachers in school and this statement proves it. After all she indeed was an old lady

So off i went home that way... Those days i was staying at my uncles place... I ran up the stairs and out of sheer fear, went off to sleep... Mom came home from office at around 5.30-6 and came and woke me.... She was in a very good mood and as i got up...i just fell into her arms and started crying....explained all that had happened...Got a firing but wasnt beaten (Love my mom, she never raised a hand on me)...

She went off and i sat their crying for the next one hour... Mom did not tell any of this to my uncle....

7.30 pm... Uncle calls out aloud and i slowly go downstairs.... the Twin Towers were on fire.... Who cared...my world was on fire....
Sometime later...The towers crashed.... Who cared.... My Schooling career was crashing....

Next day the class teacher came to the class and asked who got into trouble last evening and when i raised my hand i got the most painful comment i could ever get " Sampark i didnt expect this from a student like you"
I was summoned to the principals office again and another dose.... i was outside class for over 2-3 lectures.... She almost suspended me....But i was let off, this being my 1st major goof up

AFTER EFFECTS
My class teacher never spoke to me straight faced after that. I would have surely been in the race for captaincy of red house next year which i sure shot lost that day....

But for me, since that day, life changed.... i realised that i was going wrong.... My friend circle was slowly going bad... I was ignoring my studies.... I was going in the wrong direction.... But as a kid, this incident freaked me out so much that i actually mended my ways....

If i had not pulled it back, i would not have never managed a 88% in my 12th boards, let alone reaching the best college of Mumbai and then to IMT and finally to France and back. People claim that there is one point in their lives when it changed forever and for me it was 9/11, the day the world changed.

When i passed out in March 2o05 wanted to go back to Sister and Thank her but somehow i lost that chance

Next i came to know that she had left for Ireland, never to return again... A few years back I tried looking for someway to contact her on the Internet but wasnt successful

So dear readers, LFS friends and ex-students, if anybody can somehow help me get in touch with the person who made me what i am, i would be really grateful...

All i will say 8 years down the line is " Thank you Old lady"

The Magic Of INDIAN MAGIK: A Captain's Account

Guys this is going to be a very long post so let me apologise in the beginning itself bcoz a lot of my readers claim that why do u write such long and detailed narrations of your experiences

THE CONCEPT
Ever since milestone started coming near one of the juniors, Vikas kept pestering me and Priya that we should be in his team. And everytime i kept ignoring him, saying, who is gonna be a part of a juniors team. For almost 2 weeks this guy did not give up hope. Then suddenly 1 day i was walking on the road to the gate alone thinking about something, dont know what. Its then that a thought struck me. Sampark, why not make your own team. These guys who are keen to have them in their team, can be my team members. Then i thought about Urja (later to be renamed Syenergy), the team my friends were in.
What would i tell them, all the seniors would make fun of heading a juniors team. But then i thought about the benefits of the team that i was conceptualising. It would give me the practical hands on experience of my MBA skills. I wanted to see myself if i had the power to pull a team of 18 through such an event. (Very frankly i wasnt very satisfied with the result on this front)
So 2 days later it was final. With Priya as the perfect support for such a venture i was running my own team. Vikas and a few others had to leave the team because of Placecom commitments and in came Priya and me. With still quite a few slots left a lot of planning went into the other senior members. After asking a lot of prospects and rejecting many more the team of seniors were ready. All of them strategically thought about, Anubhav Bansal for Finance and Operations, Aditya Sharma and Kapil Tuteja for IT and Shweta Agarwal for HR. Priya and myself would cover the Marketing and HR front.
The juniors section consisted of Anuj, Akanksha, Anumeha, Anirudh, Mikhail, Nikeeta, Varun, Sweta, Yogi, Ricky, Sunny and Vibhor. We had Vikas as the perfect back up along with Pooja. The team was ready and raring to go

THE JOURNEY FROM OM TO FUSION TO INDIAN MAGIK
It took us 4 days to come up with a name which could comply with the theme of Anunaad: Resonating tech, tact and talent. On the very first day itself we came up with the name OM: The Resonance of Life. I fell in love with this name. First day it was rejected by all but by next day when we didnt get anything we decided to go ahead with this name. I had already thought of the marketing strategy, the ways to promote it and what designs this promotions had to be in. But next day came another twist in the tale. From insider sources we came to know that 2 yrs ago a team had already used this name so it would be better if we found another name. We were on the road again. a lots of names which other teams used were discussed by us....Synergy, transformers etc...all had been rejected by us. Then towards the end, in a desperate attempt we came to Fusion. But then i got the firing of my life from Akanksha, only God knows what had pissed her off so much. That night we sat and discussed and discussed and out of the blue came Indian Magik. We were gonna connect Tech, tact and talent with India.
We chose From Aryabhatta To Kalam as our tagline just to connect the name to the theme which otherwise sounded like a Kurkure flavour. i still remember Shantesh laughing away to glory when he heard this name. He kept teasing me " teda hai, par mera hai" a line from one of the Kurkure ads. But we were finally there with a name
INDIAN MAGIK: From Aryabhatta to Kalam.

THE PREPARATION
Our prep started a little late as i had already seen Syenergy begin with their banner painting. Priya and me had a very tough time getting the juniors to understand that Milestone is much beyond fun and frolic. The hard work and time put in is enormous. These 2-3 days included a lot of running and going mad. From running to Kalmeshwar to get the banners stitched to sending people to the city to get the Tshirts printed and the paints bought. I still remember the first day when Anirudh came back with the paints and the tshirt, i had got so pissed off with him. Next day i had to run to the city early in the morning to get this work done. Even the last day a final attempt for the kites and the graffiti boards was another hell of an experience. The pressure and stress had started showing on me and it took Priya a lot of effort to cool me down. Thanx a ton to the biker guys, Paaji, Vibhor, Mikhail, Kedia who would be ready to run to kalmeshwar or nagpur at any given moment, sometimes twice a day. Thanx to my designing team of Anirudh and Anumeha and my painters, Varun and Nikki who worked so hard to get the BEST BANNERS of Milestone 34 this year ready. On the sidelines, paaji led the scripting team and Akanksha and others took care of the dances. Sweta and Nikki with Pooja helped get my exhibition ready.
DAY 1
ICE BREAKER
That day i was just back from the city when the script was finalised and practice about to begin. I noticed that the script was a little out of the rules mentioned last night but it being the last moment i didnt raise any questions. Luckily the committee also didnt raise any questions on outside characters being added to the storyline. My movie on which i had to make a spoof was Hera Pheri and full credit to my actors, especially Kapil Tuteja. Bro ur acting of Paresh Rawal was the defining factor of this years Ice Breaker. His sizzling performance catapulted us to the 2nd spot behind Trinity. We had created the first impact. With wondersful supporting performances from Andy as Majumdar, Paaji as Sarabjit Singh and Adi as Jaisimha. Indian Magik had arrived.

THE D DAY: THE PROMOTION RACE
At 1.30am the promotion race was to begin from Baddi Court. In an act of negligence we forgot to ask our supporter, Pooja to change the Team Tshirt when she went to Priya's room. This year the rule did not allow any non-member to help in the promotions. Just before things began complains started coming in of Indian Magik supporters being spotted elsewhere. We, the team which wanted to play things fair was unnecessarily getting dragged into trouble. Pooja was removed from there before the time limit started and we had a narrow escape.
The promotion race was to begin on a whistle and team members were supposed to run and grab spaces for their banners. It was indeed a dangerous thing especially when it had poured a few hours ago. In one of the hoax starts we saw the preparations the other teams had done with their back up staff. From A Block banners of Samanvay flew down. From B Block Transformers and Trinity dropped their banners. We even saw banners coming down from locked rooms with lights switched off. We wanted to play fair, but teams had other plans.
It began and all of us ran in different locations and Kudos to my team. They managed to get all the places we had targetted. Be it the base camp. Be it the girls in B Block. Be it my balcony in A block and be it the canteen.
The only issue which happened was when Varun handed over the banner to a third person while tying, so as not to keep it on the wet floor below. This was spotted by the Milestone Committee and negative points were awarded. But overall it was a victory on the space grabbing front as well.





DAY2
THE GAMES
The games next day started with IT Game and Finance game. In the IT game we stood second with the team of Adi and Tuteja but we deserved first as its an unspoken fact that the team that came first, Swakriti, knew the answers beforehand. But we were happy, not knowing that this result would be the deciding factor in the end.
In the finance game, as well, there was an issue with a flaw in the game. All the expected winners disappeared. Everyone expected this game to be a straight fight between Sanket of Syenergy and Bansal of Indian Magik and to the surprise of many, both did not even appear in the Top3.
The Vyaktitwa game also turned out to a disaster. I had gone for this and because of one wrong decision of mine, we dropped from 1st position to 5th and eliminated. We were leading but a mistake under pressure and we were out.
Nukkad Natak was another failure as we came 9th out of 15 teams and Biz Quiz was our most disasterous performance with 13th. By the end of day 2 we had slipped to 5/6th position and it seemed like Indian Magik glory days were very short lived but not for long

THE RACE TO THE TERRACE
The terraces last year opened on day 1 during the night itself but this year for safety reasons they were supposed to be opened at 5.30 pm the next day. Every team was supposed to nominate 4 members who were supposed to run to the top. It was a scene straight out of Main Hu Na and New York which included a race to the top of the college terrace. The B Block terrace was our main target and Paaji and Sunny were given this responsibility and A block was given to Anuj and Yogi. From where i was standing, my balcony in A block i could see the B block race very clearly. The whistle blew and they were off. Sunny soon took 4/5 th position as they entered the hostel. anxious moments as everyone waited for the racers to reach the terrace. Sunny reached 4th and another good attempt by all the 4 to capture all the targetted places. Finally all our banners were up and the kites were filled up to cover the spaces left. Only the basecamp needed to be brought up to the mark...

THE BASECAMP
Things at the basecamp were not seeming to go well while the other teams around had begun with their activities. The exhibition was up but there was nothing good enough to attract the crowds. I had gone for the Vyaktitva game when things turned around. Priya along with the juniors had started the Photo studio where people could get themselves clicked as ravan and ram and hanuman and even Charlie Chaplin. Lots of people got their ramlila dreams fulfilled. Even mazumdar sir got himself clicked as charlie chaplin with his trademark moustache. paaji had started a game of his own where people had to pop a table tennis ball into a mug that he had attached to his hip. and he was junping around in different directions to make the game more difficult in each round. This attracted the people to the exhibition as well which was my trump card to get people to understand my name so an exhibition was organised which had the welcome board saying " Indian Magik present Indians who created Magik with their Tech, Tact and Talent. " i used this to get people out of the Kurkure mindset. The Indian Magik basecamp was a hit.

At 4 in the morning when other teams had would up we continued, this resulted in free publicity from the Trinity tent where, first, himanshu arya and then, jay upadhyay kept their comments flowing on Indian Magik, Sampark Sachdeva and his tirth yatra to France. One of the great memories of Milestone.
Day 2 came to an end with lots of brainstorming on the Marketing game to be held early next morning. The topic had been given and a service had to be promoted for jail inmates. priya, me, varun and kapil cracked our brain till 5 in the morning trying to think of something. We rejected the cooperative store, and event management company, an investment back, a courier service and had almost finalised on a home furnishings company when an idea struck me. The stress relieving company that i had made a presentation on while i was in France. We all went of to sleep for 2 hours before we would get back to our marketing mission. End of a more of less disappointing day 2 which saw Indian Magik drop from 2nd to 6th spot.

DAY 3
THE GAMES
I got up at 8 am to prepare for the marketing game at 10. I tried desperately to add marketing concepts to the PPT i had.... but seemed to fail badly...
9am and not too much progress.... By 9.20 a thought to skip the game also crossed...but somehow, however idiotic i finished the PPT
Our team, Priya, Varun, Akanksha and myself reached the hall with our shoulders drooped... By the time 4-5 teams had finished their presentations, my confidence started building up. It seemed people were in a worse situtation than we were.
I went up on the stage, relieved as much stress of myself with my company BODY, MIND and SOUL... an hour later the results came. The very game that i was about to quit, I came 2nd..... Yo man, thats the way..
The day continued with Tuteja, Bansal and Paaji coming 2nd in the Operations game...

With 2 second spots for today and 1 earlier, Indian Magik was back on track again....We lost the HR game. We came 4th and that also by 1 mark.... A setback when we were expecting a good show...

With this the management games were over and the results as of now were as follows:
Samanvay 545
Indian Magik 541
Transformers 507
In Sync 450
Syenergy 395
Swakriti 375

Now what was left was the creative side of it.... The strong points of Syenergy and Swakriti and the the weak points of Samanvay and Transformers... For Indian Magik and InSync it was not known what to expect... The tides could turn anyway....

The Face painting took place but results werent revealed.... the next day the graffiti boards were submitted and explanations given.... i felt that face painting was ok and the graffiti was good( we later came 3rd).... the promotion marks (500) were also left and i knew if anything could save me from here it would be my promotion

DANCE
The dance show began at around 8. Samanvay people gave a mixed reaction. Transformers was the most enjoyable but the least coordinated. InSync was ok. Syenergy was rocking and Swakriti was great. The pressure was on and Indian Magik was (teammates, not my view but the general public) was bad. We had to somehow save the last event, the fashion show.......

FASHION SHOW
We reached the baddi court with very little preparation... i was damn tensed and nervous... i couldnt screw it up from here.... Swakriti and Syenergy were at the best again.... Transformers and Samanvay seemed to have let the lead go... InSync did not live upto the glamour expectations that the people expected from it... Indian Magik, with all the screw ups, Surprise surprise, went real well. Especially the Indian flag we revealed at the end....
Thank God for this last minute savior.....(we finally came 3rd in fashion show behind Swakriti and Syenergy)


NIGHT BEFORE THE RESULTS
The results were to be revealed the next evening at the LRC. The night before it was bad for the captain of Indian Magik....First i sat with Amit, then with Pranay and Kabra and then with others on the floor discussing and analysing the situation.... I knew Syenergy would come flying up but promotion was its weak point....Transformers and Samanvay were no more the threats they were till now... InSync seemed to have lost the plot somewhere... Now after the ok face painting and satisfactory graffiti, bad dance and good fashion show, the only thing which could save Indian Magik from sinking was the promotion. I knew if i could lose it to anybody now, it would be Swakriti. I barely slept that night with the committee members highly guarding their cards.

THE RESULTS
The result was at 5.30pm and as i was about to leave the class at 5.00pm a SMS came... It was one of my junior members....
The results had leaked.... it said "We're 2nd, Swakriti 1st and Syenergy 3rd" Firstly i was furious at the Milestone members, if they could have guarded the results for 24 hrs couldnt they have done it for another 1/2 hr.
the results began and as expected Syenergy were 3rd with Rs6000 as their prize. Indian Magik after all the turmoil managed to hang on to the 2nd spot with Rs12000 and as per my calculation lost to Swakriti who got Rs 18000..... It is now when i came to know that we had lost just by 10 points.

THE AFTERMATH
I walked out of the LRC hall only to be lifted by my team and been given bumps like my Birthday. Didnt know that losing by 10 points would get me beaten up by my own team mates. Then an open counter at the canteen and the Maggi's and parathas flowed but the best part of the celebration was left. 3 Thumbs Up bottles were blown off instead of champagne. Kapil and vibhor had to sacrifice their Tshirts in this celebration. The team party is yet to happen since the very next day half my team was in bed. I was down with cold and fever, Priya, Anirudh and some others joined the bandwagon. Sunny went one step ahead. With stones in his kidney, he had to leave for Kolkata to get himself operated. He is back and recovering well. Akanksha is on the wheelchair with a torn ligament.....

The Learnings
I won but failed in what exactly i had gone into see. I could not keep myself away from the tension and the stress. I had a very hard time managing my team which was only possible with Priya's help.. Thanx sis, you were great. No complains to my team, just that i didnt not know how to get some messages across in a more receptive way. Thanx guys, you made me learn a 1000 things about myself.
This experience will go a long way in teaching me how is it that you manage and understand your subordinates and manage people in your workplace. I realised that getting tensed and stressed and losing your cool doesnt find a solution but you need a more refined way to do that.

Before i wind up my acknowledgements....
Thanx Mom for making it clear to me which way i should go, my own team or with my friends
Thanx Poo for understanding why i was so busy and couldnt give time
Thanx to my friends at Syenergy for understanding that the friendship was at its place (even though all the leg pulling u did)

Thanx Priya for being my coolent... It was your hardwork that paid off
Thanx Bansal, Adi, Tuteja and Shweta,....each one played their role very well
Big Thanx to my junior guys: Anuj, Akanksha, Anu, Andy,Miky, Niky, Varun, Sweta, Yogi, Paaji, Sunny and Vibhor..... It was your team and your victory completely

And the biggest Thanx to all the Milestone guys, Shantu, Ritika, Swati, Adi, Ankur, Ritu, Mittal, Pankaj, and others....sorry i dont remember all the names....Juniors i barely know a few names... Thanx guys for making Milestone34 as unbiased and hassle free as possible.... You actually changed my impression which was formed last yr.... You guys are great

4 Cakes, 1 Great Birthday and Loads of Butt Kicking

So guys today is my Birthday so first of all wish me " Happy Birthday"
Today lets talk about the last birthday celebration of my college life... and i can assure it was amongst the greatest ever.....

The look and the smiles people have been passing on to me since 2 days had already prepared me for the worst... My sweet little ass was in danger of getting battered and bruised out of shape and recognition. So i was counting minutes as the dreaded hour approached.. But i never expected to be confined under room arrest 1 hour before it for the fear of being kidnapped by another gang of butt-kickers.

First gang that caught hold me was the 5 member team of Frienchies.... Ashok, Aishwarya, Sunil, Eshan and Mayank... To the utter irritation and disappointment of the other rival gangs, they made me cut a wonderful chocolate cake in the confines of my room... " Happy Birthday GB" said the cake..... Its the nickname, like the one all 6 of us have.....

Then the gates were opened for the next lot of attackers.... My kingdom and dignity was at stake.... But out of nowhere i saw Sunil lifted up in the air and WHAAAACK!!! went his ass..... After 5-6 shots people realised I was the one to be kicked and in no time I was swept off my feet. Then the show finally began.... BOOM!! BANG!!! and my butt was kicked in every direction. Pranav, Rajeev, Mittal, Parag all took a shot at my sweet, little, soft butts..... They cried in pain and begged for mercy but it seemed everyone had been turned deaf.... Finally after a while the debris was put back on solid ground and i gathered the pieces together. Eshan had his share, Mayank had his and for the 1st time Ashok experienced the near death experience when u see God.
How could i miss this opportunity to get 2 more of my great friends share the fun with me... Vinay and Bhardwaj... Sorry guys, didnt find better people to share my joy with... Out came the 2nd cake "Happy Birthday Champu" but my butt was about to have another dose, from the great butt-kicker himself, Shantesh Jain.

I finally did manage to reach my cake.... But IMTians and eating cakes dont go hand in hand... so within minutes my hair, my face..even my back had tasted what a wonderful cake i had cut... they surely did appreciate the taste... But i did give it back by aiming cake bullets back at them... The war ended in around 10 minutes with me sustaining the most number of bullets as it was a one man army against the Butt- kicking army...

Somehow i dragged my body to the co-operative store where the 3rd army was waiting to shell out every ounce of energy i had left in me... The doors closed for the customers and opened my doors to hell.... Tubes of Colgate and Close-up become the machine guns which fired non stop.... my hair took the firing head on... but the enemy was clever he fired liquid guns with Slice and Chocolate drinks in it under which my hair succumbed and accepted defeat... The victorious duo of Surbhi and Priya were about to leave the last breath when a cannon ball struck from behind.... Juniors couldnt have been behind.... Hitansh and his cannon ball eggs.... One after the other every side of me was hit and the eggs burst with great intensity and the yolk and albumen spreading nuclear gases everywhere.... everyone in the vicinity died of stink radiation.....

My body was again taken for a ride, few more kicks on my now disfigured ass and down i was in the rain puddle outside the store but then i finally earned the honour of getting to the 3rd stage, my 3rd cake " Happy Birthday Sam". Here the fight for honour began again and soon the skies were filled with vanilla icing arrows again... Sumeet got hit on the shoulder, Anubha on her hair, Jay sir's spectacles were frosted with vanilla... Budhia too took a beating , Surbhi even after all her efforts had to manage a stain or two on her clothes... Richa the last survivor was attacked by the remaining who conspired against her.....

Then came the 4th round of the event... Priya's chocolate cake " Happy Birthday Bhai" it read.... By then the strength to fight for honour had given way and i took all the hits on my chest.... and finally after fighting for an hour and a half of fighting, i gave up and accepted defeat finally....

At present my ass is in the Intensive Care Unit fighting between life and death.... My hair is better but still traumatised.... My clothes are waiting in the mortuary for an honourable funeral.... And my mind is still getting over the shock.... Its so shocked that anyone walks up behind it, the hands automatically go on to the butt to save any other future damage....

Please pray that all of them survive to tell these stories to their future generations....

P.S. All the accused will be sentenced proportionately to the crime committed.... The case awaits trial in court.... Till then let them live with the honour of pushing a poor soul to the brink of death....

This is the battered butt signing off.... LOVE U ALL AND THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL MEMORIES....

A lecture at IMT.....

Here i am sitting in the Integrated Marketing Communication lecture getting damn bored. So i think of doing something which i havent since a very long time... writing a blog post for all u guys. Today i will share with u the experience an MBA student has at IMT Nagpur.

Names will be kept anonymous since u never know any of my great professors might land up here and kill me to death.
From the place i sit in Tiered Room 3 i have a view of the whole class and what everyone is up to. The professor with his expressionless face, is delivering a lecture on print media but it seems that only the walls seem to be listening while the words bounce off from the stoned faces of the few students who are attending.

A quite a number of guys are lost in their own dream world, fast asleep, covering up their quota which has been lacking. The nights go off in last minute attempts at case studies, beer parties and talking away endlessly on the phone with your girlfriends 1000's of miles away. So they land up in class, especially because of the 85% attendance rule to finish off their sleep in the AC classrooms.

I can hear someones fone vibrating on the bench behind me. And she is now busy replying to the SMS's of her boyfriend in another class.

At the other end of the class XYZ is sitting and reading the case study for the next class of Services Marketing. Poor him, he just heard that the professor was throwing people out if the case wasnt read.

I can also see ABC deeply engrossed in a game of snakes on his mobile fone. He doesnt even seem to remember that he is sitting in class.

PQR is sitting with his laptop under the desk chatting away, and trying to woo that new junior in college. God wish him all the best.....

In the row ahead of me 3 girls are busy discussing the bangles and bags they bought at the sale in the city yesterday...

My friend circle , sitting beside me, is whiling away their time playing "Name, place, animal, thing" where u have to name one of the each by selecting a random alphabet. As of now they are busy cracking over their heads with the letter "H". I can help.... Harry, Honk Kong, Horse, Hat.... yippeee i won...

O i forgot one person..... On the last row... he has leaned back far enough to disappear from the view of the professor. May be thats y i missed him. As of now he is busy snoring away....

And what am i doing.... writing this blog for u to read.....


Suddenly the professor stops the lecture and takes out the attendance sheet. The games, the chatting, the messaging, the sleep all disappear into thin air and all you can hear is "Yes sir" "Present sir".
the attendance ends, the teacher moves out.

After a 15 minute break, the Services Marketing class begins. Within minutes the phones are out, the laptops are on again, the dreams return and games are off pause and the cycle continues....


Now what do i plan to do.... For details refer the photograph below....

Reason

Sometimes people come into your life & you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or help you figure out who you are & or who you want to become You never know who these people may be (possibly your roommate, neighbor, professor, long lost friend, lover, or even a complete stranger), but when you lock eyes with them, you know at the very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

and sometime things will happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, & unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming these obstacles that you would have never realized your true potential, strength, will power, or heartEverything happens for a reason.

Nothing happens by chance or by mean of good luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness & sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without this small test, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. It would be safe & comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.

The people that you meet who affect your life, and the success and downfalls you experience, help to create who you are and who you will become Even the bad experiences are learned from. In fact, they are the most poignant ones.If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious when you open your heart. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love & how to open your heart & eyes to things.

Make everyday count. Appreciate every moment & take from those moments everything you could possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people that you have never talked to before & actually listen... Let yourself fall in love again, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right too.Tell yourself that you are a great individual & believe in yourself. For if you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you. You can make your life anything you wish.....Create your own life & then go out & live it with absolutely NO REGRETS. Most importantly, if you love someone tell him or her, for you NEVER know what tomorrow may have in store. And learn a lesson in life each day you live.Today is the tomorrow you were worried about yesterday.... Was it worth it?

SOURCE: Internet

Live Life don't crib abt it

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. you just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back.

SOURCE: Internet

15 things you probably never thought abt or knew

15 things you probably never knew or thought about....
1. At least five people in this world love you so much they would die for you.
2. At least fifteen people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyones would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
5. Every night, someone thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. If not for you, someone may not be living.
8. You are special and unique.
9. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.
10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
12. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.
13. Always remember the compliments you recieved. Forget the rude remarks.
14. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.
15. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

SOURCE: Internet

Jo hota hai, achche ke liye hota hai (Whatever happens, happens for the good)

There are times when things go wrong, when your confidence hits rock bottom and when life seems a disaster but at this point understanding that there is a hidden meaning behind the event is what is important. In this blog post of mine i will give you some examples from my life which at first seemed disasterous but today i just love them.

The very first thing which i ever felt wrong was staying away from Dad. I felt hurt and pained by it quite many times but 18 yrs down the line i am happy that it is the way it is. If it did not happen, i wouldnt have been responsible the way i am, i wouldnt have understood life the way i do, i wouldnt have taken life seriously like i have. Staying in the sheltered environment i would have never gone to Jamshedpur, then not studied well enough, never reached Mumbai, Nagpur or France alike.

When i was in the 9th gradei got into trouble with my principal for making fun of her and was almost thrown out. That time i cried, why me, when everyone did so. But a few years later i realised that if it wasnt for that incident i would have never started taking studies seriously. My friend circle was going wrong, i was having fun in class and ignoring studies but since that day i mended my ways. Today 8 yrs later i still am in search of my principal, to thank her, but few years back she left for her home country, Ireland. Sister Helena, Sister i just hope that some day i get a chance to express the gratitude that i have inside for you. Thank you.

After 12th i got admission in Mumbai for my graduation while all my friends got through colleges in Pune. I cried, i cribbed and complained that i wanted to leave Mumbai. I kept waiting for lists to show my name in Symbiosis, Pune and it kept ignoring me. Then one day while sitting on Marine Drive i thought, my name should have been on the 1st list but it was not. It was not there till the 3rd. Thats when i thought, that is this a sign from God that dont go to Pune, that i had to make it big here itself in Mumbai. I decided i will not go. Next day, my name appeared in the list. My phone did not stop ringing, as all my friends tried desperately to change my decision but i did not. 4 yrs down the line i am satisfied with my decision. Agreed i did not have as much fun as they did, did not live a great college life but learnt a lot about life. The struggle, the competition, the life ahead, i got a preview of all. That made me work harder and thats why CAT clicked. I got a 94.86 percentile and fate led me to IMT Nagpur.

Now you will say IMT, thats not good enough. I agree its not an IIM, its not even close to IMT Ghaziabad but my decision proved right again. IMT in the 1st two terms taught me more than the 3 yrs in Mumbai. While in Mumbai i learnt about life as a struggle, IMT taught me about People. They people that i met here was very diverse and wide but what it taught me was everyone is different. Its upto you to see through the fake fronts that people potray or else life will become a disaster. And most important of all IMT gave me the gift of my Best Days of My Life, France. IMT Nagpur wasnt on my original list of colleges, I compromised and the result was France.

So bhaiyon aur unke behanon, Life is great, beautiful and fantastic. Whatever happens, happens to make life better, happier and greater. So embrace everything with open arms.

Today i am happy because EVERYONE CELEBRATES OCCASIONS, I CELEBRATE LIFE !!
So IT'S YOUR LIFE, MAKE IT LARGE.

THOSE WERE THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE

Here I sit at Paris Airport waiting for my flight back home. Another few hours the 4 month dream is gonna come to an end. The memories, the times , the people all gonna stay by me forever.

And as I am about to leave I would like to thank the beautiful country, France, for all that it has given me. Few hours back as we left Dijon we saw what all we had gained in these 4 months and also saw the great friendships that we were leaving behind. Kassy, Kwstas, Karolina, Gulcin, Yagmur, Alp, Astrid, all were there at the Gare (station) to see us off. There was no greater honour than that.

4.40 pm...Platform... the train is all set to leave. All of us stand at the door and emotions let loose. Kassy, Karolina and even Kwstas shed a tear or two. With the hugs and kisses and goodbyes the time ticks away.

4.52 pm...the door closes...and all these friends get left behind. I take my seat by the window and as the train starts moving. The name on the platform says, “Ville de Dijon” and it finally struck me. Maybe and most probably we will never walk these lanes again. The tears start rolling and the 4 months flash right in front of me. Every moment, every laugh, all those fights.....i will miss them all.

5.15am...Present day...Airport Charles de Gaulle terminal 2F...
Aishwarya asks me why I have that blank look on my face and I don’t have any reply for her. Its a feeling of getting left behind. Its a feeling of losing out on so many things. As we walked from ESC Dijon to Rue Gambetta there were so many things that I always came across. Waving HI to my friend at Le Bocadillo, I will miss doing that. Wishing “Bonsoir” to my sandwich friend at Rue la Liberte, Place de la Liberation, Chabot Charny, Wilson, the Avenue.
I still feel like going back to that house and fight with the others. “Who’s turn is it to cook today.” “it’s not my turn to go to Carrefour.” “Again you have cooked Rice, cant we have something else to eat.” “Why isn’t Ashok there to cook lunch.” Those were times yaar.

THE HOUSEMATES
Aishwarya, Miss Accent, and her favourite statement “ I choose not to”.... MISS HS..... when we came here we expected a girl would eat less as compared to us but surprisingly she eats more than me. Reason.... “She doesn’t eat more than she pays” but neither does she eat less than what she pays.

Ashok and his favourite line... “Why am I being outcasted” “ I am not opposed to any rule.” The greatest thing used to be that every time he needed to be ready at a particular time Ashok would say, “ Nobody needs to wake me up. You want me to be ready at 10. I will be here at 9.58” but alas leaving him everyone knew that Ashok will never appear before 11. Someone who can spend 50 euros on roller blades just to use it twice.

Sunil.... Kantaal aa raha hai.... “you guys should only buy brown bread bcoz its healthy. Every morning dot at 9.15am Sunil Bhaiya would be at the dining table having a kings breakfast. Yaar if you cant sleep doesn’t mean that making so much noise in the kitchen and spoiling our sleep. “Why is that plate not washed. Why are u making so much noise. The rule is made, no more discussions on this.”

Mayank Tandon... he hasn’t changed at all... that birthday party, those pre birthday surprises... somethings should be left unsaid... From all those double meanings statements, he went on to become the silent assassin. Just observing and taking it all.

Eshan, the angry young man. Can u even imagine someone with the personality of him would lose cool so easily. He was the rule maker and the rule follower. It was us, the others who broke the rules.

The great jokes that we shared... “Aaaaaaah” “The man, his ducati and his glacier” and “the small red fruits”. The great plans of Sunil and mine to kill Aishwarya everyday but sadly she survived all of them. Sunil does plan to throw her off the plane mid-air. Hope so finally he does succeed before entering India.

I was also a butt of so many jokes but guys, thanx for those times as well. “Grogi” “Loveguru” “Bimar premi” “Consultancy” “Tharki”.

Those linking up each other with all those firangees. Sunil and his love for..... Ashok and his Takiya.... Mayank and Aaaaah..... Aishwarya and her Ghosla Baal waala firangee and “da man”( aishwarya asked me to change “the” to “da” right accent and Miss HS).... we didn’t even leave Eshan out... My story...Guys I don’t think I need to even mention where you linked me...

All 5 of you, Mayank, Eshan, Aishwarya, Sunil and Ashok... Thanx a million... It was the greatest honour and greatest pleasure staying with you. May not be ever able to thank you for all that you have taught me in this period. I couldn’t have ever asked for a better set of people and thanx to IMT and Mazumdar Sir I have found friends for a lifetime

THE FRIENDS

Thanx a ton to all the people we met here who made every moment of this eternity worth dying for.

The Greeks....Kassy and Kwstas... you were just fabulous and incredible

The American....Kamilah... will always regret not saying a proper bye to you... you are The BEST....

The Czechs....Karolina....you are a SWEETHEART. Proud to have a friend like you...Jan n Barbora... It was a great time that I spent with you

The Turkish... Gulcin... Seriously the enthusiasm and excitement that I saw in you... will miss Miss Spontaneous Photographer... Yagmur... you were Great... Alp... Regret getting to know you so late....

The Slovenians...Tjasa n Lea.... Will miss the Beautiful Ladies a lot...

The Polish... Wiki... Miss Wierd Expression... but lovely to have around for a smile...

The Indians...Agraj, Ankur, Priya, Shivam, Dipin, Jennifer... Hope to meet you some day back in India...

Did I forget mentioning any French.... yes a loads of them to thank for.... Quentin, Sabrina and Barbora for the wonderful tourism team. Kamelia and Floriane for the great Management and Business Creativity work respectively. Yikka, will try meeting you some day in Hong Kong.

THE PEOPLE

Bob and Elisabeth.. You were wonderful neighbours. Someday if God permits we will have another wonderful discussion like the one we had. You have great kids in Pierre and Mira and just wish all of you the very best in life

Our landlords... Could have never asked for anything better from them... Anybody reading this always pray that you have landlords like them... someone who would go out of their way to make their tenants feel at home.. Being it calling back home or be it taking us to the market and even the phone and the weighing scale we demanded

One of the best persons I met and some of the best memories that I had were in the French class with Mrs Fredrique Terrand.. Someone who took all our jokes so sportingly and will never forget the moment where in the final exam she told me, “Sampark I cant take this paper of yours.” I was submitting a disastrous attempt and this statement just showed how much expectations she had from me. She would scold us when we spoke Hindi in class and just loved it when she said, “Sampark, no tension, its like sleeping on the beach” “In France, teacher is the Boss” “Work, work hard” Shut up” Undoubtedly the best classroom memories I have ever had. At this point of French class how can i miss the wonderful times when Haajesh was in class. From the point where he told maam, " chalti hai kya coffee peene" to " where he kept saying," i missed only 3 classes " where he would have attented not more than that no. And the best of all pronounce Bonjour Monsieur they way u pronounce in English and not how u do it in French

Just a mention to all the other teachers that I spent some great classroom hours with. Be it Sabine Mueller(just no words to describe her), JP Bernard (one of the very few practical classes that I have had ever), Claude Chappui( love his knowledge on everything), A. Djoehana( loved the way he used to say, “lets ask our Indian friends.” Siobhan Alderson (a very short but impactful interaction with her. Maam, will miss your classes a lot” Christian Khulmann and who is at the 3 corners of the Marketing Triangle.

Will miss the Patisserie and Boulangerie opposite the school.... Pain au Chocolat and the Jambon Sandwich ( Sunil, How many dukkars, Pigs, have I eaten in France??




THE PLACES

The beauty of France is just uncomparable.

Be it the lovely Eiffel ( visiting which was a dream come true) or Moulin Rouge. Finally in 4 months I did break my bad luck with Paris and did visit it twice. The 1st one on 14th Feb.. It was just the greatest thing that could have ever happened, “me in the world’s most romantic city on the year’s most romantic day.

Be it Besancon, it’s citadelle and, how can I forget, Pascal

Be it Beaune and its wine world with Mr Claude Chappui

Be it Lyon and its wonderful Roman Remains, the 2 rivers running side by side or be it the double decker Notre Dame Church. I couldn’t believe seeing 2 churches one above another.

Be it Nice and Cannes. Agreed the rain tried playing spoiltsport but the red carpet and the wonderful ride to the island, the secluded sea side on the island at Cannes and be it the rocky beaches of Nice

And finally be it the Marsanney Forest. The best hike that anyone can ever ask for. That climbing up the hillside and then losing our way to finally sliding down the hill. It was just fabulous

Or be it the wonderful city of Dijon....i can go on and on about it

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

In another few hours I will leave France but that doesn’t mean that I have fulfilled all my wishes. Amidst all these great memories a few things were left undone which would force to come back.
Missed a chance to have coffee at Place de la Liberation. Would have loved to have one under the wonderful summer sun with a slow breeze blowing across. As far as meals are concerned will come back to eat at JP Billoux, our very own JP Billu.

Would have loved to be here to watch the Tour de France or the French F1 grand prix but as of now am taking the Tour de France T-shirt back with me to remind me that I gotta come back for it. French Open also was missed.

Can even come during Christmas time for it has always been my dream to spend Christmas in another country. Alas not any grand Christmas celebrations in India

SIGNING OFF

So guys it is 7.10 am....10th May 2009 and my time in France is finally about to end. I would soon be leaving for Terminal 1 for my check in so I gotta end

Miss you all, miss you France, Miss you Dijon, Miss you ESC, Miss you 28 Rue Gambetta, Miss my friends...

Will love you forever and always...whichever is earlier

Will write to all of you soon for the first time from India (Blogging was also a gift that France gave me). This is Sampark Sachdeva signing off from Airport Charles de Gaulle for the very last time from French Soil.

Miss u dad.....

As I walked home today, I again had the opportunity to sit at Place Wilson for around 10-15 min. There at the other end a father was teaching his son cycling. After sometime he himself got onto the cycle and had a ride, to the delight of his 7 yr old son. This morning I had gone swimming and a similar scene brewed there. A father was giving his son a ride on his back while the son waved as a victorious king riding his horse. This bond that I have witnessed in this lovely country is something that has touched my heart, the son n dad love.

This further touches me bcoz I missed all this. Having stayed away from dad since I was 4 was something that I always missed. Those arguments, those thrashings, those lovely moments, those encouraging statements, I missed them all. Never felt really bad about it since as far as my memory went I was always away from him. If I had been older maybe it would have surely affected me more. But yes there were times when I missed his presence, especially when I saw other kids enjoying with their family.

I still remember the first time I cried for this reason. The year was 1994. I was playing with 2 friends of mine, both brothers. Suddenly their mom called them as they had to go somewhere. The dad got the car out, all sat in and drove out of the gate, the sons waiving at me frantically from the back seat. The first time I shed a tear, I missed him.

Always would have loved to have those family outings, those family dinners, when a dad sits on the dinner table and asks, “So son how was your day”. Never mind since this experience of mine has made me what I am. I understand how important and how valuable parents are.

There have been times when I see my friends complain, “I don’t like my dad. All he does is interfere with my life and all he does is scold me.” And all I would say is “I would die for that 1 moment”. For all this while even though I stayed away from him, I never made that effort to strengthen our relationship, even on the phone.

I still took him for granted till that fateful 2 yrs back. The deadly phone call, “Dad had passed away”

And then it all dawned on me. Shit man, why didn’t I give him the importance that he deserved? Why didn’t I be a good son, even though I stayed away from him? WHY???

Dad it’s been 2 yrs since u have gone. I miss you and I wish I could get just one chance to prove that I am not a bad son after all. I still remember that dream a year ago. I was at my brother’s place. I saw Dad sitting at the other end of the room. All I did was fall into his lap and cry. I cried and cried all the while just asking for one chance and all that Dad said was, “Son it’s ok” and he was gone.

For quite some time I tried to decipher the meaning of this dream till I finally spoke to my best friend, Pooja. I narrated the whole incident to her and all she said was “Sampark, Dad has forgiven u. You have realised where u went wrong, thats enough for him. The only reason he came was to put u at peace.” I don’t know what she said was right or wrong but it was enough to put me out of my misery

I believe that Dad did come that day and I thank him wholeheartedly. Don’t know where you would be today but wherever u are I just wish you are happy. And I just hope that someday in your next life, you come across this blog of mine and read it. That’s highly improbable I know but that’s a son’s heart that speaks.

And Dad a promise to you today, “I will never let your down. Whatever expectations you had from me, I will fulfil all. I will make you proud.”

Miss you Dad.......

Love in France

I had written this article last evening on my way home but I wasn’t able to post it due to no access to net.

It’s 7.50 pm, I am on my way home but as I cross Place Wilson I decide to sit on one of the benches there. I take a seat under a pink cherry blossom tree. There in the distance behind the building the sun is getting ready to pack up for the day. On my left, leaving a few benches, sits a couple discussing something from a sheet of paper. On my right, sit another couple, too engrossed in their kissing to even notice that I am putting them on my sheet of paper. Across the fountain an elder couple walks home, hand in hand. Seems like the whole city of Dijon is in love. As I write this 2 pigeons appear out of nowhere and land in front of me. Don’t tell me these 2 are also in love....

The weather around, the calm chilly breeze, the setting sun, the trees with their new, bright green leaves, the cherry blossom trees all seem to blend with the environment as everything seems to be giving vibes of love.

In the next 15 minutes that I sit there, loads of love filled couple cross my existence. Some just hold hands and walk along. This guy keeps troubling his girl who just seems to love it. Some just cycle away into time.

Man y am I the only one not in love? I also wanna love somebody and spend time with someone? And then out of nowhere it dawn cracks, lightning strikes and my eyes open to a completely different world. I too was in love. YES guys I am in love too. Love all around me had finally gripped me.

Now the next valid question would be. In love with whom?

Thats simple. Love with the beauty of life, with this love filled country, love with beauty of nature, with the setting sun, with the miracle of life, with every creation that God so beautifully designed, with the breeze that races thru my hair, with everyone else who is also in Love.

Finally I found love too......

People say “ Live n let live”.

I say, “ LOVE n Let LOVE”