A tale of Love, Loss and Hope...

Every child has a dream, every day things change but that dream remains the same. A dream was broken a while back but I would not go into that. For what it is worth, I would never forget that I had a dream and that is all that there is to it.

To have lived with that loss would have been hard, to have lived without the dream would have been tough had it not been for my friends. Personally I never imagined myself going to an IIM but my friends told me I was good enough. One heartbreak after the other I lost faith in myself but they never did, I remember my friends telling me to keep up the spirits, to believe in myself. I also remember saying "i wish i had that belief in myself". I never had it but today I do.

After a roller coaster year that was 2009, I felt I was done. A bad XAT exam led credence to the belief that even 2010 was going to be similar but then 10 Jan 2010, FMS happened. I knew I had an interview call for sure, my friends told me again that I can do it and this time, with some self doubt, I believed them. Then came the CAT results and came the calls from the coveted IIM C, L and K. I knew the game was on.

Interviews and GDs took place, some were good some were not so good but eventually I triumphed. I want to thank my friends for telling me it was possible.

I want to thank Shikha for telling me I was good enough, for abusing me for not studying and for shouting on me when I got sad.
Sidharth for telling me I was worth an IIM seat and guiding me through out. Sanchit for being the bestest Bro all this while and sharing every news with me and listening to me when i was drunk.
Debo for helping me with quant and Varora for driving the car when i mugged up those vocabulary cards. Chinni and Suu for listening to my bullshit when I was down and telling me to do well. Amit for being the bro that he is and lastly God for giving me such wonderful friends.

I love you all folks and I will never forget the support and good wishes. Thanks for being there.
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Regards
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Varun Sood

Time of your life!!!!

March of 2010 has been a dream month so far and this month will always be a dream month because I never expected this month to be this way!!!

Too much ho gya ji ;)

Things I hate part 3

Disclaimer: I am all for equality,though the post might show otherwise.

Have you seen a girl react when a guy is sitting on the Ladies' seat in a bus or a metro? We all hate that guy, the seat belongs to the Ladies, so he should just leave it or better still not take it in the first place.
The guy is a jerk, understood but that could not possibly push me enough to write a blog entry. Then?? Well the reason is A girl,mind you she is not A lady. She enters the bus/metro and asks the guy to get up and that too with a certain tone of authority.

I think to myself, ye sahi hai... Waise equality chahiye, girls went to the moon, they can fly a plane, fight a war yayyyyyy.. Wtf you asking the seat for.It is not like you have some disability.

Here let me explain one thing. Personally I do not sit on the Ladies' seat in the first place, secondly I give the seat to someone needy when I feel like, even if it bears no SIGN or anything, So when I crib about this, I am entitled to. Besides I do not mind seats being reserved for the elderly and ladies but they are reserved for ladies not girls, there is an essential difference between the two. I am sure no girl would like to be called a lady, 'that sounds so old'. This behavior from a girl makes me wonder who is a bigger jerk.

If the guy was smart enough he would have got up on seeing a girl and left the seat in the first place but he chose not too(jerk..) and the girl starts yelling at him(JERK...).

This behavior from that girl, trying to show her authority brings us to my 2nd point.

Ever been to a bank or some government office where u have to deal with a clerk or an accountant or anyone who is not at a very high post? I have been there and I feel they discriminate against young people who look educated. (this one is sure to raise a few eye brows but I gotta say what I gotta say). Sometimes I feel illiterates get by easily in such scenarios, like they would point out to me whether the account number is 23**** or Z3****?Ask me to Write properly and what not, I feel like asking 'sir do you even have account numbers starting with alphabets?'

Anyway this is a common occurrence, its our nature to degrade others and show our powers as and when We get the chance.. On the whole I think the purpose of this post was to bring forth the human nature that enjoys subversion. ;)

Regards
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Varun Sood

Apologies Mr. Hitler..

I hate to leave a book midway. Although I am not an avid reader, part of it has to do with me being a reader who does not let go off the book unless it is finished. I hate to be addicted to anything.

Anyway the post is not about that, it has more to do with the fact that I have decided to give up reading Mein Kampf midway Here are a few reasons why I decided to do this.

The book is just beyond me because it could not generate the enthusiasm that my past readings have. Perhaps I am not at that level of intelligence where this book seems interesting or perhaps I just feel that his words were not as important as his actions were.

In the beginning,when he reminisces his childhood and how he became the person he was, he sounded interesting but later on when he started with his expansion plans for Germany I just got bored.

He takes too long to explain a point because his style of argument is different, rather than explaining why he is right, he mostly explains why the others are wrong. This starts to get on your nerves after a while because in your heart you know he was just as wrong(or more wrong).

Besides some(all???) of his reasoning had paranoia written all over it. He had that persistent fear that everyone was out to fight against and destroy Germany.

So anyway it was fun reading what I read in Mein Kampf. Unfortunately This will be one book I would never finish.. Seeing the first world war through his eyes was good but Mr. Hitler I have to say I am sorry, I was terribly bored by your book.

Next up will be some book on history of World War-II. I bet that will be interesting. :)

Cheers!!
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Varun Sood

The world is not that bad after all..

Every time you switch on the TV these days you get to see stories of horrendous crimes,abductions by friends,murders for money and what not. All this makes you think that the world is full of bad people, this sends out a message that people around us should be looked at with a suspecting eye. Well you just can not trust anyone it seems.

I had,probably, started feeling much the same. Although I feel that people are basically good and bad deeds are, for the most part, circumstantial. but then owing to the lack of proof I had started giving in to the usual crap that was being on shown on TV.
This much needed proof I got tonight.

I was coming back from office. I knew there was not a lot of petrol in my bike but I did not care to get it filled tonight, reason you ask? well there were 2. first was my laziness,second was the fact that I was not driving in reserve(at least that is what i was thinking).
Anyway so I had crossed dhaula kuan and was on the inner ring road, coming towards Rajouri Garden. Suddenly the bike stopped moving. This is where it all began. I got down, parked it on the side, wondering what to do. Call someone? Ask for help??

I did and within a minute a bike stopped nearby. The guy asked me what the problem was. He then offered to push the bike in the desi style(with one leg on my bike's silencer). Sadly he could not, owing to the fact that his bike was 125cc. So i told him, it was OK, he should leave and I would manage.

The guy left. Moments later a North Eastern couple stopped and asked me the same thing, although they could not help either, it felt good that people were stopping to OFFER help(The chick was hot by the way). While I was talking to these two, the guy who had earlier left, came back and told me that he felt it was wrong to leave someone in trouble, he offered me some petrol from his bike and I gladly took it.

I thought this would solve the purpose. But heavens had a different plan, the bike would not start. It turned out that the petrol was too less. The guy had left by then, so had that couple and I was stranded in the middle of nowhere. After that another bike stopped, he had an awesome Royal Enfield or I guess a ThunderBird. That guy was genuinely amazing, He pushed my bike for almost 7-8KMs. We reached Rajouri and from there we found a petrol pump that was still open. All this in a span of one hour. I would call this an hour of enlightenment.

I was wondering if I would have helped someone in the same way as I was helped today. I am not sure, may be, may be not. But Would I do it now?YES. If the opportunity comes,I definitely would.

May be we are too inclined to see the bad thing, may be with all the bad stuff prevailing around us good is just a bit hard to find. But I closely watched it tonight.

I always believed there is a basic goodness in all of us. I believe there is, now more than ever.


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Varun Sood

.....the storm within

.....then he opened the door, he walked through it and saw he could reach for what he had desired for so long. Sweat dripped down his face, he was exhausted but his eyes sparkled with hope, is it a dream?? does not feel like it. Is this what I had been waiting for?? Seems like it.. And then he touched it.... The moment had arrived, he felt it and suddenly it was gone. How could it be?? how could it be gone?? It was right here.. it was in my hands, I felt it, I swear I did...

Suddenly he realized that IT was right there in his hands, oh What just happened? it is right here in my hands, why did I feel it disappeared? Why don't I feel happy? Why it does not feel special?? Is it not what I always wanted, why am I not happy now that it is here??

....still unanswered..
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Varun Sood

What Went wrong for BJP?

So the election results are out and UPA has a good majority. It is clear that the next government will be led by the Congress.

The question is What went wrong with the BJP's policy? In any democracy the government and opposition are both important, sadly in our country the opposition BJP is not up to the standards.

I believe this election result does not necessarily imply a win for the UPA's policy but speaks more prominently of the NDA's failure as an opposition.

I would attribute this loss of BJP to the following factors.

1. Politicising the issue of Terrorism:
I remember receiving smss from BJP campaigners on the eve of election , saying that if we chose Congress safety will be a major concern and The government is weak and all. I agree that the terrorist attacks take place and terrorism is a reality in our nation but we have suffered attacks under both UPA and NDA. So this sensitive issue should not have been picked up to malign the UPA. The approach they took was totally unacceptable.

2. Varun Gandhi and What followed.
BJP were asked bu the Election Commision to not to nominate Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit, their reply was "Do not tell us what to do"(it was something euphemistic but the crux is the same). BJP could have distanced itself from Varun and sacrificed the Pilibhit seat but they chose to stick with him. This was a very crucial mistake. At a time when the country was talking of Unity post 26/11 Mumbai attacks his comments could have been anything but helpful.

3. The Budhiya and the Gudhiya..
This was one of the biggest political joke that sprang up during the campaign. Modi was seen as a no non-sense person but this one took a lot of his creibility away.

4.Populist promises and No details
Although all the parties did this, BJP ended up biting the dust. Congress promised rice at 3Rs. per kg and BJP said we will give it at 2. They also said we will make upto 3Lac income non taxable. This might appeal to a voter who is uneducated but when you understand the dynamics of the economy, you just know that these measures are not feasible. Had they cared about teling people how they will actually implement all these things, it would have worked but they did not. People can see right through the promises .

5. BJP has to let go of the Hindutva Blah..
This point needs to elaboration. They just gotta let go of this. Who cares if there is a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. People have bigger things to worry about.

Here I would like to point to something I read recently.
LK Advani was asked what was his biggest achievement and which was the saddest day in his career.
The answer was: saddest day was when Babri Masjid was demolished and biggest achievement was that he was a Kar Sewak(the people who went to Ayodhya to demolish the Masjid I guess). This pretty much sums up the sad state of our opposition.

God bless my country, I am just glad that we will have a stable goverment for next 5 years, in the present scenario re-elections is the last thing our country needs.

PS: Advani's comments were pretty similar to what I wrote, I can not find the exact words now, will edit if and when I see the same,
PPS: UPA has done a lot for the country, no doubt there but I believe more could have been done in 5 years, that is why I attribute their win to BJP's failure as an opposition.

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Varun Sood

And the legacy continues...

I read this piece of news today and I was shocked. Firstly because I am in the IT industry but more importantly because it exposed the special and in a manner devious side of the US Foreign Policy.

Mr. Obama is right when he says he wants to jump-start the economy, to create jobs but I,and i am sure many others, thought that he was smart enough to avoid being a protectionist.

While reading I found that during the Great depression of 1930 the Smoot- Hawley Tariff Act was imposed. As per this act the duty on imports by USA was increased, so that people would consume more Made-In-US stuff and hence the economy would recover. That was not to be, because Economy of one nation is intricately related to others'. This fact was ignored and hence the crises had deepened.

I am not qualified (yet ;) ) to comment on what will be the repercussions. If, how and when they will eventually affect us but I am sure of one thing, If you go through history and read about USA you would not find any other country which has a consistent record of foreign policies that have been outrightly selfish.

From the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to invasion of Iran, they have not changed and they sure do not learn from past mistakes.

Mr. Obama has made a lot of right noises in his initial days, extending a hand to Iran, Cuba and Russia but bottomline remains the same, US's foreign policies have been and will remain selfish. It is obvious I know but would it not be nice if they atleast were sensible enough to disguise it.


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Varun Sood

Who would you rather be?

The question is straight forward. The answer, it seems, is not. You can be the victim or you can be the culprit. You can have the advantage of being strong or you can have the sympathy of those around you. You can come out as a strong tough guy or the sissy that cried. So who would you want be?

There are thorns with the flowers around you. The thorns have to be removed and eventually the flower will go with it, what would you want to be? The thorn that makes the flower reprehensible or the brutal hand that killed the flower albeit unintentionally, the bitter truth is you can not be the flower, the flower was dead long before you knew it. But what if it's not?
You have to make a choice, The thorn or the Hand?



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Varun Sood

Recession: The funny side

The deep gloom that there is in the market is obtrusive, the ramifications of what the dumb (or greedy) Americans did have hurt the whole world pretty badly. But like in many stories(all stories??) there is a funny side to this as well. These are a few gems I have found in the Economic Times in the last few days. Hope you Enjoy them.

How I wish I had a company I could sell :D

I think this will happen with a lot of us at time of appraisals and Bonuses. (Now it does not seem so funny :( )

The best one of the lot. So true...

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Varun Sood