Dreams Unlimited

In India we have a rich tradition of treating our elders with the highest degree of reverence- we seek their blessings before embarking on an important mission and take their advice on all important matters. But somehow in this age where a nuclear family is the norm rather than an exception this tradition seems to be losing its foothold. The growing number of old age homes and the rising cases of harassment and domestic violence against senior citizens bears testament to the fact that they are treated as a burden to society. I got an opportunity to visit an old age home in Khadavali as a part of the Social Cell initiative in SIMSR. We left for the place early morning from Ghatkopar station. The entire journey took around 1.5 hours after which we took a rickshaw to the place. It is a beautiful place overlooking a river which is very clean. The home is unlike the tall rises in Mumbai-it has small blocks scattered in the compound.There are separate blocks for the ladies, the gentlemen and

I was deeply saddened when I heard that the 'rape law' for the Shia family has been legalised by Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President. Even before the law was enacted, women were ill treated in Afghanistan (by using the word ill treated, I'm grossly under stating the facts), but now they will be tormented by people who will believe that it is their legal right to do so and will actually take pride in all this. Islam is a beautiful, pure religion. It treats everybody with a lot of love and respect. The Quran does not advice men to take on many wives and treat them as sex objects. Many teachings are taken out of context and manipulated for personal gain. There are innumerable examples of non Muslims converting so that they can take a second wife. But there are many who have converted to Islam because of their sheer faith and belief like Muhammad Ali(previously known as Cassius Clay), the world renowned boxer and back home, A.R. Rehman, the music genius. Every individual needs t

A couple of months back, while watching 'The Moment of Truth' in my living room, I confidently declared that this is one show that will never be customised for the Indian audience as however much we might swear by our morality and uprightness, there are many skeletons in our closet that we would never want revealed, and especially not on national TV. But I had to eat my words when 'Sach ka Saamna' was launched. Note to self: Never say 'NEVER'. Actually about a month before the show was launched, I received a call from Star Plus inquiring if I would be interested to be a contestant on the show. I thought that it would be a way of making some quick money as I didn't have much to hide. But after questioning me on my life for about five minutes, they must have also guessed the same thing. They would get back to me, but they never did. So it wouldn't be far fetched on my part to say that they were specifically looking for something scandalous, something that

There are always loopholes in each and every system. Ragging is banned by law. But that does not mean that our seniors did not rag us. Instead they formulated a two week long event to rag us in a formal and systematic fashion. Thus, IMPRESSIONS’09 was born. WEEK 1:- We were all given the task of searching for our ‘buddy’(person who had the same roll no. last year) and doing whatever assignments would be given by the ‘buddy’. The searching part was simple. We just got hold of last year’s attendance sheet. The assignment part was a little tedious for some. While some took extra interest and did it with the same dedication that they would if it were their final exam, others did it half heartedly , secretly cursing the whole idea. Luckily, my buddy turned out to be super chilled. WEEK 2:-We were required to find out inside information about some of our seniors and make a presentation on them and also prepare either a dance, fashion show or musical skit. The finale was in the auditorium in

Standing on the crossroads of life I know not which way to go Sharp , black eyes on me at all times Taking pleasure each time i stumble They win or lose, it doesn't matter What matters is how i do The worse i do the better they feel I blame them not, for that is just the way they are In the deepest recesses of their minds They display emotions hard to describe

I have been meaning to write this one since a very long time but somehow never got down to actually doing it. Today on a Sunday afternoon, at home after eons, in front of the television (watching TV after a very long time), I am finally writing this. So here goes. The first time I saw the Somaiya campus I fell in love with it as I had never seen such a huge campus in Mumbai. The campus of my previous educational institutes were almost non existential. I was absolutely delighted but never in the wildest dreams had I imagined that I would be a part of it one day. But as they say,'Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans'. After facing a zillion rejections, when I finally got accepted at SIMSR, my happiness knew no bounds. That's when I realized that once you achieve what you desire-how you achieved it, what all failures you faced in the path, whether you deserve more or not-nothing matters. It's just pure, unadulterated happiness. At that moment,I

Saying a final good bye-be it to a person or a place evokes a lot of mixed emotions and generates a feeling of nostalgia. The entire journey you had with that person or entity flashes before your eyes. You want to treasure every moment you spent, even though it might have appeared insignificant at that time. You want to hold on, not let go, even though you know you must. And letting go is all the more difficult if the entity in question is a significant part of your life- like the first organisation you worked in. The image of Tiger Woods playing professional golf with panache in the face of obstacles was my first encounter with Accenture. I was really apprehensive about entering the corporate world and trying to match up to every one's expectations. There were various stereotypes stuck in my head like a nasty, demanding boss who would spend every waking minute trying to make your life a living hell and colleagues who would forever be scheming against you, looking out for the small

'Bangalored' is the new term for outsourced in the diction of the US President, Barack Obama He is determined to make outsourcing an unattractive proposal by imposing stricter tax norms. He is unhappy with the fact that American firms are preferring the Indians or the Chinese over natives just to lower their operating costs, have a higher profit margin and avoid paying taxes on the higher return by reinvesting offshore. But it is not completely true that the US stands to gain nothing from outsourcing. The companies that have offshore offices expand their business as they now reach a wider section of society and compete with local businesses also. These companies don't hire people only because labour is cheap but because they are talented and meet their standards. So it is because of outsourcing that these companies generate the revenues they do. Obama's new policy will just enable other global players to gain a competitive edge. In this era resorting to protectionist or

I am currently working in an IT firm, my first experience in the corporate world (more details in coming blogs). In a recent interview(not a job interview, but one to pursue higher education...in times of recession switching jobs is not a good idea), i was asked to name the CEO of the company whose tools I'm currently working on. This simple question stumped me. I realised i had absolutely no clue regarding the management of the organisation whose tools I use with elan and regarding which I claim to have significant knowledge about. Any ways, the point being that i failed to see the larger picture and was content with just playing my part. This incident triggered a chain of thoughts in my mind. Why is it that we just focus on the task at hand and put all our efforts towards accomplishing a goal without knowing where our ambitions and mundane tasks fit into the larger scheme of things? A possible explanation could be that we are not the omnipresent, omniscient being called the Almig

The future is one thing we obsess about and the one thing we can never be certain about. I was recently watching the movie Next wherein the protagonist could see into the future. He made attempts to change it for the better. But what he realised at the end of it was that even though he succeeded in altering the course of events, his actions caused the future to change in unforeseeable ways. He aptly summed it up as "You can never see the future, because everytime you see it, it changes" Humans, by nature, are curious beings. We are not satisfied in knowing the present, we want challenges and there is no bigger challenge than knowing the unknown. Perhaps thats the reason for the time machine being the heart of many sci-fi stories and movies. (Love Story 2050 has other factors to blame). That is why there is such demand for the astrologers, tarot card readers, witches(yes, black magic is followed world over) and other such professionals. The common man blindly believes these pe

The citizens of Mumbai have finally spoken. They came out in large numbers to vote, to make a difference, to participate in the decision making process. Their commitment is really strong. Their interest did not dwindle with the passing time. They have shown that they still care. After all who would have thought that the voter turnout in Mumbai after the 26/11 carnage would be a whooping 43.5%. All that was expected was just a 15% increase in the turnout compared to the 47% turnout in Mumbai five years back in 2004. Must say, this city never fails to surprise me. Way to go!!! After all, which individual with all his senses intact would choose to stand in long tortuous queues in the sweltering heat just to press a button when they can clearly spend the long weekend with their family holidaying somewhere or even perhaps relaxing at home. How many times do we overworked, underpaid, underappreciated (as we believe) Mumbaikars get a mandatory paid holiday? Very rarely, right. So why waste it

Today is the day that Mumbai votes and this year's election is special as the 26/11 attacks have been a wake up call. Many citizens have realised that apathy is not helping, they need to do something. So strong was the feeling in some that the number of independent candidates contesting have risen. And they have not chosen to contest against the weak. They want to defeat the best. And according to me it is a very smart thing to do. It is a win-win situation either ways. If you win then your victory will be hailed, for you have defeated the best and even if you lose, you gain respect because you had the guts to pick such a strong opponent, not to forget all the publicity you would garner-it would ensure that you have a strong foothold and you can definitely come back again-this time against a candidate you are sure to defeat. Brilliant strategy!!! And my bet is that most of these independents will try again next year with renewed vigor(if they dont win that is). My wishes to them. B

Life has a way of throwing surprises when you least expect it. A disastrous event can spoil the flow of things or one positive incident can make you forget even the most difficult phase in your life. Success is a very relative term and so is happiness- some think they know what they want and the smart ones know that even if they want something it is just a temporary phase. Once you get what you desire you no longer want it and crave for something else. Sometimes you can surprise yourself specially when you do something you never imagined yourself capable of. Thats when you taste true victory. I was reading "Its Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong.His is a classic tale of overcoming all obstacles and set backs to achieve the impossible- he won Tour de France(7 times),the most rigorous and competitive cycling tournament after battling cancer. Many people wrote him off long back. but he fought back. He proved them all wrong. The only thing that he kept saying to himself was t