Random Thoughts

Another year has gone by, however I must say 2016 was a happening year for me, personally and professionally. It's been more many months since I wrote anything. Let me pen down some of the key highlights of 2016. 2016 was the year of many firsts. Silki got a project in Sydney, her first international assignment. Thus ended our long distance relationship in January. While the first couple of months she was in Melbourne, I got an opportunity to travel and see a bit of Melbourne. I watched my first tennis game between Tomic & Murray in the third round of Australian Open in the famous Rod Laver Arena. What a wonderful experience it was! March & April saw a number of road trips in and around Sydney. I loved the scenic beaches of Coffs Harbour and the beautiful drive along the NSW coast. July and winter gave me an opportunity to discover the Snowy Mountains. Beautiful countryside, scenic lakes and farms dotted the journey. However, the biggest change of t...

What do you do when you are lazy and did not shop for groceries and all eat out restaurants are closed and worst of all you are goddamn hungry? Well, have apricots with dry fruits and low fat vanilla ice cream! Trust me its delicious, filling and healthy snack/dessert! I would rate it as 10/10 and best part is that it takes just 2-3 mins to prepare.. Looks yummy? Here is the recipe, try it out and leave a comment if you liked the recipe : 1. Cut small cubes of apricots ( can be replaced with apple, peach, mango or any fruit that is sweet :) ) 2. Mash some nuts, cashew and any other dry fruit that you may have 3. Add 2 scoops of low fat, gluten free Vanilla ice cream 4. Eat! 5. If you want it to make it more exotic, add honey and some fresh mint leaves. Season it with Cardamom

Every new year almost all of us make new resolutions, we decide to do things differently this year, forget the past and focus on the future. But you know the reality, best put in words of Shakespeare, if to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels would have been churches!  Most of us forget our resolutions within a month or so and then when an another year knocks our door then we make new resolutions again and thus the cycle repeats year after year. This year I am taking a different approach to managing my new year resolutions. I think there is something that can be learnt from performance appraisals systems when it comes to resolution management and execution, setting the goals and periodically reviewing them! Well, only if my manager knew about this very basic fact! :) I think the key is not to be over ambitious and bite as much as you can chew, after all there is no manager to impress and no rating to be earned except the satisfaction and benefit that you...

" Life's a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get!!" Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies. Perhaps because I was as (maybe I still am) "stupid" as Forrest is. Perhaps I like the concept that there is hope and that the fact that one can shape one's destiny through some  bit of luck and some bit of hard work! Isn't it why the saying 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration is what success is made up of? But the question is can you shape your destiny without any element of luck? Well I do believe that however hard one might work, there is always an element of luck. Things that are beyond our control for instance make chance play a huge role. Some times it is sheer timing, sometime you are at the right place at the right time or may be at the wrong place and at the wrong time. But what I believe is that one should take what life has to offer, swim with the tide, sail along and enjoy the journey because when you reach th...

So here i am, knocking the doors of the next decade to be. The first 30 years have been spent so fast. It seems that it was only a few weeks back that I gave my class 10 board exams and joined a new race, the race of life. There after it has been a marathon of sorts. So many things and memories in the past decade. College, graduation, job, onsite, fighting to get ahead in life, GMAT, CAT, MBA, USA that could have been, IIM and finally getting married. The decade has started well for me. Marriage and relocation to Sydney. The coming decade is going to be a very significant decade. New responsibilities, new challenges and many things that i cannot foresee at this moment. All I want to wish is that I have a full filling decade with no regrets. New life, new era, new beginnings. Learn from the mistakes and move ahead!

Wishing everyone a very colourful, fun filled, bright and prosperous diwali.  May goddess Lakshmi bring  health, wealth and happiness in your life.

Life has entered a beautiful new phase. A phase characterized by verbs such as bonding, caring, loving,  knowing, sharing and discovering. I still remember how just the thought of sharing your life with someone else would make me nervous and paranoid. But off late I have realized that each phase of life has its own merits and charms and we must enjoy things as they come. Life is beautiful and happiness is real only when it is shared! After all life is a pursuit, a pursuit of happyness. It is a journey with an end destination but if one does not realise the importance of enjoying the journey then there will be disappointment at the end when the destination is reached. So live each moment of the experience and enjoy the journey, for life is short and made up of just moments! :) :)

When it comes to chance, luck has not been on my side more often than not. This year was no exception. After five years, the H1B Cap was reached within 5 days and the USCIS adopted the lottery system to randomly select the 65,000 visa applicants. As luck would have it, I got dinged in the H1B Cap lottery. Well, with more than 75% of Cognizant's revenue comes from the US region, this means that I won't be travelling this year.While it is definitely a loss of opportunity as well as a monetary loss, I believe that some good will come out of this bad luck. I truly believe that what happens, happens for the good. Sometimes the good is just shrouded in a short term mist that blurs our reality and understanding. It is just a matter of time, when the mist clears out and the underlying good is visible clearly! Until then.. Photo Source: Wired New York

So I have decided to move out from the bachelor pad and take a separate apartment. Since my dad goes out on work for a few weeks out of Ranchi, I wanted my mom to stay with me during such times if not otherwise. However, this was not possible in the bachelor pad where I was living in with my iim friends. This new apartment flat is a 4 BHK- 1500 sq unfurnished flat in Jal Vaayu Towers in New Town, Rajarhat . While I will have to spend some money to furnish the house, but   I think that for 13K including maintenance, it is quite a deal. Calcutta is for these very reasons quite affordable as compared to other cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad.

I grew up reading, watching and feeling poverty all around. It is not a rarity if you are in a city or town in India. The towns and cities of India are teeming with millions of poor people. Beggars asking for alms, old and helpless begging on the roads all these are a very common sight in any city or town in India. While people in villages might not have to beg but there is a different form of poverty there. Millions in the Indian villages live a life full of hardships, toil, misery and disease. Even my initial years were not very plentiful, though there was enough and my parents ensured that my brother and I had all our basic necessities covered. But I did get a close look at what poverty means and how the poor in this country live while I was growing up in Ranchi . It was a constant reminder for me to take the opportunities that life gave me and be thankful because there are others who did not get as lucky as I got. When I look back at times and compare myself with some of my...

Within 10 days of toil and a few late night study sessions, somehow I managed to complete the syllabus for the APICS CSCP exam. Well, probably it is the longest duration exam that I have given till date, 4 hours!! So, how did it go. I think it did not go that bad. I think i do have a shot a clearing it! The results would be out in a month or a month and a half. So this is what is left now....Waiting... :)

Here I am, facing the CSCP exam after 14 days! Did I not have time? Yes, as a matter of fact I had two months. But I again procrastinated and have put at risk 70K and a reputation. Can I do it in 14 days? Well, I don't have the choice, will have to make the impossible possible. 5 books- 1000+ pages- 14 days! - Now this is interesting challenge. I am game for it :)

Had been planning this so many years now! In 2009 after I returned from Zurich, I was already in love with the mountains. Wanted to go to the Himalayas especially  Ladakh . But as Harry Chapin  says " there were planes to catch and bills to pay.. " It did not happen in 2009. There was a chance to do this in 2010, but as luck would have it, it snowed in June in Ladakh and the roads opened 15 days late. Late enough that i could not go on the Ladakh trip as my b-school classes had started in Indore by then. Summer internship and financial constraints did not help me fulfill the dream of visiting Ladakh in 2011. And 2012 was spent in fighting it out in the new job. Finally, its in 2013, after four long years when i first thought about the trip, that I am going to Ladakh . The weekend starting with 9th August till 18th August has 2 public holidays (Id and Independence day , in case you are wondering!) and there are two weekends. So, by just taking four days off...

In the last 10 days I got an opportunity to watch two matches of the IPL 2013 at Eden Gardens. The first match that I watched was between KKR and PWI. Incidentally  I watched this match for free. A friend from my B School gave me two passes in the corporate stand. It was a good match and KKR won. The second match that I saw was between KKR and CSK. The tickets were arranged by a friend, though they were not free this time around :) Although CSK won, I was disappointed that Dhoni did not bat much. Liked the game experience, and probably am going to watch at least a few more  matches in the stadium.

I opened Google and the doodle wishes me Happy birthday! Thanks for the wishes,  Google continues to amaze me...

So is there something called the sixth sense ? Have you ever felt an inner voice that tells you not to do something but you still do it only to realize later that had you listened things would have been different? I believe that there is some instinct, the sixth sense , beyond the senses of perception that tries to warn us before hand that something is not going to be good, that something does not feel right.  Probably we lost our sixth sense once we became civilized and stopped living in the jungles. Yesterday, I had this feeling that I should not go to watch a movie. Let the ticket go waste, but somehow i changed my mind and went ahead. Three hours later while returning from the theater I met with an accident, luckily did not get hurt much just bruises and cuts and no fractures. But the very fact that I met with an accident made me realize that sometimes you should just listen to that little voice in your head. Had I not gone to the movie...

The year that was 2012 for me. January The winter of Indore got colder and grimmer with the Lateral Placements starting in the 1st week of Jan. But the cold and gloom did not last long. It was all bright and sunny at least for me after the first week of Jan. February Feb zoomed past in merry making and placement parties. 26 Hills became the home away from home for many of us. March Sense of ending zeroed in. Two years of MBA life came to an end. March ended with Convocation and saying good byes to many of our class mates. Some am sure will meet with and some probably not. But nevertheless, there is always hope. April Spent mostly in watching TV Series and waiting for the joining date and location. It was a relief that I did not get Chennai as my joining location, instead Kolkata welcomed me with 85% humidity and 40 degrees summer. May - July New place, new life, new friends. Explored Calcutta and its night life. Pub hopped, eat out almost every alternate day. In s...

After a gap of 10 years I am at home for Diwali! May the festival of light bring new hope and determination in your life! Wishing everyone a very Happy Diwali!  

There is no limit to creativity. People find new and unique ways to express themselves. While most of us agree that for a Consultant, life revolves pretty much around power points. But what if you become so conversant with powerpoint that you start using it as a medium to express your creativity. You start creating art form using power point. Well, does this sound unreasonable? Have you ever imagined that someone could create a painting in PowerPoint? Yes, that is what my friend Rishabh Sachdeva is doing these days. He has created a Facebook page called  Power Painter , where he uploads his awesome Powerpoint art work. The whole concept has gone viral and in less than a week there are already 110+ likes and the whole concept is getting wide recognition and is highly appreciated by people on the internet. Do checkout the " Power Point Art " its pretty awesome. Photo source: Power Painter Artist: Rishabh Sachdeva             ...

So who will be the next president of US of A? Well, you might be thinking why would an Indian really care about who wins the US presidential race this year? Well, because we are all really living in an interconnected world now. Ripples in one side of the world become tsunami somewhere else! More so because last time when Obama ran for the top post, I must say that I was one of the millions who were inspired and believed in the promise of "Change" that Obama had promised. Things were really looking down then. Financial crisis, Iraq war, Afghan war, unemployment and so on and so forth.  Well, after four years probably am as confused as the Americans are. Did Obama deliver on his promise? Well, the economy may not be in great shape but its not that bad. The Obama care seems to be decent. But do I still believe in "Change" that Obama promised? Perhaps not! The first presidential election debate this year highlighted Mitt Romney as a serious contender for the O...