All about life

Recently, father appointed me with the task of buying a new laptop for him. Considering the tech enthusiast person I am, he (and me too) considered this to be an easy task. As I do for almost all major purchases, did a thorough study online for the new laptop. In spite of being very comfortable, researching online for my purchases, I am yet not comfortable in buying a major item like a laptop online. So, armed with a good understanding (at least I thought so) of the kind of laptop I was looking out for (price range, preferred brands, configuration - RAM, hard disk, processor, etc.), and my two cousins (one of them is a hard core techie), I set out on the journey to Nehru Place (the IT hardware hub of Asia - located in Delhi). Extremely over confident of our tech knowledge, we planned this to be a max two hour activity and even made evening plans (yes..we can be that foolish). And then we stepped into Nehru Place - a market which breathes, sleeps, eats IT hardware and started moving from shop to shop enquiring about laptops. Going to just the first two shops introduced us to the life reality that this was not going to be an easy task. Here are some of the things/facts/invaluable knowledge we learned/noticed/observed on our single trip to buy a laptop:

1. More you know about tech, harder it is for you to buy a laptop (Ironical eh :) ) 
2. The timespan between your research (either online or in a real market place) and the actual date of purchase has to be less than a week, else everything changes and you have to start from scratch again
3. What you see online and what you find in the market place is poles apart
4. For, a pre-decided price range and strict configuration, you have at least 200 laptops to choose from with the most subtle differences and you are expected to understand all of these :)
5. Companies have incorporated it in their missions and visions to have the most difficult and mind boggling model code numbers for their laptops. They are generally eight to ten characters long, alpha- numeric, with mandatory special characters, and what not. Misplace one character, and you reach an entirely different laptop.

Other than the above precious knowledge, here are some priceless moments from our trip:

1. Visited one shop previous month too in Nehru Place and that day every salesman was trying to sell a particular brand's laptop, going gaga over its features. This week, this brand's laptops were present in the back most display and we were transferred from one salesman to another for the same. And yes, this time a new brand was the store's favourite ... some loyalty.
2. We enquired about a particular model (we had the exact 10 digit complex code with us from internet) which we had found on the official site of the brand and salesman had the most awesome response - "Woh toh discontinue ho gaya hai". We told him that we had seen it on the official website and was also available in some online stores. His response - "Online toh kuch bhi updated nahi hota, only we have the latest information". Major facepalm situation
3. When enquiring about the same model, we got another response - "even if it is available online, why do you want to buy it, yeh toh last month discontinue ho gaya tha. Discontinued model ke aapko parts nahi milenge." We countered him by saying that even if it is discontinued, our warranty would start from the day of purchase and also asked him when does he expect the model which he is trying to sell us to be discontinued, he replies - "Yeh toh abhi ek-do mahine rahega". Major major facepalm situation
4. Try asking for the best price of a laptop (some major bargaining happens in this market), the salesman would do some quick calcualtions on the calculator with an extremely serious look, and would quote you a price with an additional warning - "Yeh price sirf aapke liye hai. Kisi aur shop mein mat batana, otherwise I wont be able to give you the laptop at this price". Almost felt like smacking the salesman.

After 3 hours of visiting uncountable laptop shops, listening to the most bizarre salesman pitches and being in an utter state of confusion, we found a quiet Costa in this busy market and rejuvenated our minds with cold coffees. After getting our minds back into a stage stable enough to think, we weighed our options, zeroed in on a couple of laptops, decided the right shop to buy and again set on the mission to acquire our aim and guess what we did achieve our goal. WE BOUGHT A LAPTOP. Yippee!!! Almost felt like conquering the world :)

P.S.: In case, this blog post has aroused your curosity and want to know which laptop did we finally buy, it is a Sony T series Ultrabook. Love it :)
 

An old story which keeps knocking my mind now and then. Here it is:


Beliefs are an integral part of human beings. One person’s belief might be a superstition or even a fad in another person’s views. But this does not stop the first person from believing in his beliefs. This often results in a continued quest between the two persons to turn the other one on his side. This objective may be accomplished through reasoning, debate, examples, demos or other means – like divine interventions.

My father believes that relative positions of celestial bodies at our birth and their current positions hold immense power and information about our lives. In simpler words, he believes in astrology. With this belief stems another one. By incorporating small changes in your daily routine, you can though not change your future, but yes make it a bit more favorable towards you. My stand on astrology is very simple – No stand. Neither do I believe it nor do I not believe in it.

I am an engineer plus MBA graduate. Being an over ambitious student since ever, I was eagerly waiting for the placement season to start in the last semester of my MBA course. Top grader throughout academics, CV filled with exciting co-curricular/ extra-curricular activities I had taken up from time to time and good referrals from the faculty, I was all prepared for the placement season. This preparedness would have been well awarded had the companies offered placements. This year was no other than the year of worldwide recession. Motivated to cut costs at all levels to sustain in the bad economic weather, almost all companies gave recruitments and fresh hiring a miss that year. The utopian world I had set up in my mind shattered and that too by a force not in my hands – the devil-like recession. Some companies did visit our campus. But none which were on my list of choice. Friends advised me to not be too hopeful and compromise and take up a job offer from the companies visiting the college before
even they stopped coming. But my heart and mind both were not ready to compromise. I regularly had talks with my parents regarding the same issue – how to get my dream job. Other than the practical solutions like forwarding CV to friends working in good companies, another advice which my father
repetitively gave me was to adopt a small routine which would make the celestial bodies favor me. He advised me to start putting a small haldi (turmeric) tilak every morning. Already in a foul mood and not
ready to take up something I was not very comfortable with, I did not incorporate this. Some days later,news of possible job opportunities at a very good company came. This company was not in my wish list – it was much above that. It was a company I hadn’t dreamed of even in good times. This company was much more than my dreams. With no surprises, all students who hadn’t been placed applied for the company. I too did. Five students were to be finally referred to the company. I was amongst them. My spirits were so down, that I did not expect anything to come out of this. Numerous companies had shown hopes of job before this and this company was just too good to happen.

It had been more than fifteen days, since the CVs were sent to the company and we were yet to hear from them. One morning while getting ready for college, I noticed the small glass bottle filled with turmeric powder and saffron strands, my mom had sent me. With no thoughts or reasoning, I did what my father had told me – I put a small, almost invisible tilak on my forehead. Till date, I do not know why did I take that step.


That afternoon, as usual I came back to my hostel room to change my books for the next set of classes. I heard my mobile ringing. An unknown number flashed on the screen as my ringtone of “Quit playing games” continued ringing. I picked the call and a professional sounding person at the other end confirmed if it was me only speaking. As soon as I confirmed my identity, they introduced themselves. Their introduction shook the floor beneath my feet and sent me into a trance. The call was from the company for a telephonic interview!! They asked me if I was free and ready for the interview. Was I? The interview began and went on for ten minutes. They asked, I answered, we talked. The interview was over, but the affect on me was yet to be over. I quickly called my parents, placement officer and updated them on the latest development. I sat at the edge of my bed in an almost hypnotized state. The only thought that crossed my mind at this point was that wasn’t today the first day I had heeded to my father’s advice and almost a miracle has happened. Was this a mere coincidence or a divine intervention. This dilemma lingered in my mind for the next few days. I continued putting the turmeric tilak for some days, but somehow the routine got lost. It was again 2-3 weeks since the telephonic interview and they had not initiated talks of a second round. Did I not do well in the interview, or was my CV not impressive enough, or had the position been filled through some other candidate. Negative thoughts started penetrating my mind again. Next morning, I reopened the glass bottle containing turmeric, uttered a small prayer in my mind and applied the tilak. However, this time I did it with some better belief than last time. No news came that day. This did not stop me from applying the tilak next day. I did this with some belief (I admit, not full belief) for the next few days and the news came. They had called me for the next round of interviews. I flew to Delhi for the interview. The interviews and written tests went on for a whole day and I had only one thing in mind while answering questions – This is a Do or Die situation. All my efforts and my families’ prayers paid off when I got the call same evening, confirming my job – Yes, they had selected me for the job.

Even today, the dilemma is fresh in my mind. Was it really a divine intervention triggered off by the turmeric tilak, which had turned the celestial bodies in my favor or was it a mere coincidence. Whatever, the truth be, it has altered my views permanently with respect to the impression of celestial bodies on our lives. Though, I am still a little uncomfortable when somebody tries to predict my future by looking at the lines in my hand, or by drawing tarot cards or by adding up the numbers in my birth date, I have started accepting the power of celestial bodies and I would be ever thankful to them for giving me something which I wanted the most – a job better than my dream job!

So, what would I do...in two extra hours

This is my first book review on this blog, though I have been wanting to do this for some time.

Fate, Fraud and a Friday Wedding written by Bhavna Rai (who is an ex-Adobean) was a book which captured my undivided attention after a long time.
I love reading books and have been reading fiction since fourth standard. I started with Enid Blytons and reached Sidney Sheldons and Jeffery Archers. Since ever, I have followed the rule to not put down an unfinished book. However bore it may be I always make it a point to complete it if I have started it. So, the very first criterion, which I use to rate a book is did I have to finish the book because of my rule or was the book interesting enough to keep me glued to it. Fate, Fraud and a Friday Wedding faired excellently well on this judgement criterion. I had to make no effort to complete the book.

Kudos to Bhavna Rai (author) for breaking the trend and not being another Chetan Bhagat inspired author. I seriously feel that almost everybody is fed up of reading college life descriptor, grammar less novels by newbie authors trying their hand at writing just because Chetan Bhagat struck gold.

The novel starts off with multiple stories mushrooming in different parts of the world in varied scenarios and settings. As we move on in the novel, these stories subtly start crossing paths with each other and in the end unravel into a single story. It is indeed commendable the way this novel has been able to maintain the flow of each of these individual stories and then seamlessly transition them into each other.

The storyline has a backdrop of the Indian IT & ITes industry and gives some great insights into its working. Every IT professional would surely find instances in the novel to which he may relate to easily. Much of the story takes place in Delhi and the easy dropping of names of Delhi joints (which only a true Delhihite would be aware of) makes the novel more realistic. It is interesting the way the novel's characters have been handpicked to depict real people and not just the type of people you would read about in books. The novel very beautifully gives you a view into the thought processes, states of mind of people trying to solve the unending tangle of career, passions, love and life changing events.

My 2 cents

 I would rate the book as an excellent and a refreshing read. The only slight issue about this book which caught my eye was the book's lack of visibility in the market. There needs to be a stronger marketing and promotion campaign for such a great product. :)

Well after an hour long drive throughout which my mind was just filled with nostalgic thoughts, I reached college. Yes, there it was. The building stood tall and strong with open doors and a long pathway which led to the main building. Everything was same and I could almost feel each and every atom of that place shouting out to me and saying that it recognize me the same way I recognize them. I walked down the same path which I had walked down infinite times before, avoiding the big tree in the middle of the path which was still there, stealing a glance towards the student's store to see if any friends were standing there, walking further ahead I came in view of the most cherished and also the most visited place during the college days - Coffee Corner. This was the place, I believe, I had never missed even on a single day during college, irrespective of the fact that I attended classes or not. I came to the turn which led to the Coffee Corner and the same dilemma crossed my mind, which had zipped through my mind about a zillion times before - To take the turn towards the Coffee Corner or not and continue ahead towards the classes. My heart took the same decision which it had taken a zillion times before - A quick coffee is only gonna give me better concentration in the classes (my mind reasoned) ;) .
As I now walked towards the Coffee Corner, my mind actually conjured up the faces of all my friends right there. Oh yes, I could now clearly see all of them. Some of them were sitting on those black plastic chairs and red tables, bags hanging by the side, a cup of coffee in one hand and frenziedly copying away lab notebooks at the last minute with not even a remote idea of what was written. I could hear the plans of a movie going on in between the bites of paneer patties and knew that my plans to attend the day's classes were now over. Oh, did I just hear the sound of an Activa stopping right outside the Coffee Corner. I looked out and yes rest of my gang was there.
Before I could wave to them, I heard a very familiar voice and somehow I felt that though close this was coming from a distant time altogether. I shook myself back from my fantasy land and came back to the present life. The voice belonged to none other than, but Raju Bhaiya of Coffee Corner. Yes he had too recognized me and I soon realized that he was not a face conjured up by my mind but he was there for real. He was quick to update me on the latest news he had about my batchmates. I treated my cousins (who had accompanied me on this enchanting trip) with the same cold coffee and patties which had been life saviours from the horrible hostel food. I took my coffee and went and stood at my favorite place on the steps of Coffee Corner from where one could see the entire college (well at least the entire boys hostel :) ) and stealingly wiped out the single tear which had found a way to escape my otherwise tightly shut eyes and had trickled down my face.

Though only for a few moments I had relived my cherished memories.