Never Give up

"This time I will study well in advance for my Semester exams"

"From tomorrow I will definitely go gymming"

"After this blog post i will regularly update my blog"

"From next sunday, I will regularly go to play tennis"

There are so many such statements which we always say and then dont end up doing. The reasons for the same could be plenty..... Lack of time.. too much work... too many classes to attend.... health not well..... or simply sheer laziness.

It happens with me so many times....

But does that make one a failure...... Does that mean that the person has given up....

naah I dont think so.... To put in the words of the famous Rocky Balboa.... It aint over till its over.

If you still have even 1% willingness and energy to do what you want to do then I feel you will eventually end up doing it.

You might go to the gym only for a week or 15 days in a month..... you might end up playing tennis only twice a month.... you might start studying only a day early..... You might update your blog only after a year.... but that small bit is what matters the most....

As they say something is better than nothing..... That small effort is what will keep yourself going....

So if there is something that you have been thinking of doing for a long time but havent manage to do it out of sheer laziness.... then go out and do it today. .....

We only lose when we ourselves say .... "ab na ho payega" ......

Therefore... never give up....

And hopefully this time I will have then next blog post up soon :D :D

The Magic called Admissions @ SCMHRD

You always want something desperately but what you get is something different… and at the end of it all… what you get is far better (infinitely better) than what you wanted and you really end up thanking your stars that “Oh Good Lord… thank you!”

A similar thing happened with me when I got into Admissions Committee@SCMHRD...

Even though it was not the first priority, it indeed became THE priority in the next two years. In the words of my dear friend, “It was and is my first and the only love in SCMHRD”

So now coming to the main topic of the blog post… What did I learn???

When you’re a part of a team you are always ONE… Just like the teach in Integrated Marketing Communications, every brand has one voice one message… similarly all of us were always as ONE… and that is what made the whole experience enjoyable… It was always one for all, all for one. We were never the people in limelight and we never longed for it too…. Our director knew what we did and what effects it had and that was more than enough for us.

Discipline: No matter what… there has to be dignity and discipline in what you do. Every task that we undertook was done with 100% discipline. For someone like me it would become a bit irritating, but that I learnt that if your not giving it your 100% then there is no point in giving it anything. Peer learning and faculty guidance re-enforced this. At the end of 2 years, we all realised one thing…. Such a phenomenon will never ever happen again.

Importance of Cultural Fitment: Whenever you work in a corporate setting, the culture of the organisation is something which matters the most and if you find the best fit, then the satisfaction levels are always very high. This is not just restricted to Admissions committee but all other committees have a certain culture and the people that get recruited every year somehow always fit into that culture. As I mentioned earlier, admissions was not my first choice but it was only after 1 year that I realised how I would have never enjoyed any other committee the way I enjoyed Admissions.

Everything that you learn in books can be implemented in practice… you just need to have to look at it that way. Again 2 years with my team taught me more about Marketing that Kotler could never teach…. More about Sales target pressure that any FMCG couldn’t teach …. And the importance of good HR practices which can really propel an organisation to great heights.

You should always Work Hardest and Party Hardest too…. And no matter how hard you party, you need not show off about it…. (Yes offence :P :P )

With great powers come even greater responsibilities. Never misuse it for own good.

In Life… 90% of your problems can be solved by talking the right things to the right person in the right way, all you need is the tact to talk properly and the rest will take care of itself. The remaining 10% problems may not always be in your control.

The importance of thinking through and through your actions and decisions. Every little action that we took, every little decision that was made had hours of brain storming put behind it and all the consequences of the actions need to be thought through when you take one. (This is true at least in corporate setting.)

Also whenever you take a decision or initiate something, you always need to think long term. Many things that we started didn’t bear any fruits in the 2 years that we were here but we were sure of their long term impact.

You may not always be doing a glamorous job and at times it can even be thankless, but as long as you believe in what you are doing and are content with it…. It doesn’t matter.

These probably might be the top 10 learnings which I might have got after working for 2 years. I know for a fact that there are so many more of them… but everything need not be mentioned. If you find the right people and the right job in your work life then I am sure getting up and going to work in the morning is never a pain and no matter how much it stretches you….. At the end of the day, you sleep well knowing that you have added value in you life and to the others whom you work with.

2 years have been magical and this is a very very tiny tribute to the Magical Experience of Admissions @ SCMHRD…..

Cheers.

First Times…

No… I am not giving an account of my first times… :D

Recently I read an interesting status update on how people face mid life crisis… typically after mid 20s and how boring and difficult life becomes post that. Marriage, job, monotony and blah blah blah….

So here is what I think....

As kids we were always so inquisitive and excited about small small things because they were new to us. Even a small toy car used to amaze us because we saw that for the FIRST TIME… you play with it till it breaks… Then a new one comes along… again there is excitement because the new one is different and you are experiencing that for the FIRST TIME… It could be a car, a toy , a G.I.Joe, a Barbie doll , a kitchen set or any damn thing… We were excited about all these small things when we were kids and the only reason we are so excited about it is because we see them for the first time…

Think and reflect back upon all such first times you ever had…

Your first steps (even though u don’t remember it you aren’t bored of walking now.)

Your first words…

Your first friend

Your first fight with your friend

Your first fight with your mom

Your first day at school

Your first result

Your first victory

Your first failure

Your first crush

Your first cycle

Your first accident

The first time you saw a movie

Your first video game

Your first bike

First time you drove at high speed

Your first car ride

The time when you were first ragged

Your first job interview

Your first job

Your first real adventure

Your first smoke

Your first drink

Your first hangover

Your first addiction

The first time when “Shit happened”

The first time you fell in love

Your first relationship

Your first break up

The first time you fell out of love

The first time you were rejected.

The first time you fell in love with the wrong person

The first time your heart broke

Your first kiss

Your first orgasm

First time you had sex

By the time you reach 25-26 you have had done most of these things…. Most of them… If you haven’t then its great… because you haven’t really missed out on many but you have plenty to look forward to in your life

Now problem arises when you have done almost all of it and then you begin to feel that there is nothing left for you to do than just tell stories to your kids about how awesome you were…

No … not true…. When we were 13, we hadn’t dreamt of things we would do when we would be 22… no… as kids most of us always wanted to be like our parents… but I am sure we all turned out to be quite different.

You don’t know how many exciting first times lie ahead of you and that is the reason why the mid life crisis arises… all the anxiety, apprehensions and all other negative emotions get the better of the child in us and it makes us what they call “boring adults”.

There are so many first times we haven’t seen ahead..

First marriage (ideally it should be the only one)

First honeymoon

First Big promotion

First time you get fired

First time you have office romance

First time you get a big fat salary

The first time you treat your parents with your own money

Your first house

Your first big CAR

Your first child

The first child actually revives the excitement in us I guess….

You first post 40 club

Your first anniversary

Your first signs of old age

First grey hair

We all don’t look forward to these things the way we used to look forward to the G.I.Joe we got when we were kids… Something somewhere terribly goes wrong and we start behaving in a very measure way…

Let go and embrace these experiences with the same curiosity and inquisitiveness as you do as a child and I am pretty sure the life post 26 will be boring… Infact its all the more exciting…

Standalone, Life is very very simple. It’s the human brain and experiences which complicates it. We hold on to the bad experiences too much and forget how exciting life can be if we just look at whatever comes our way positively and give it a shot… Let go… Live it up…

This however does not mean that we repeat our mistakes and do things which harm us or our loved ones.

All in all I hope my point is conveyed… Cheers to the future….

The Good The Bad and The Ugly

My cyber Law professor once said, “every human being has criminal instinct in him/her… Its just the way that we are brought up differentiates you from others… She had asked us one simple question, “what is a crime?” and to which she only gave a very simple answer which said, “Everything that your mom said is not good or you should not do will most of the times me wrong or a crime which will harm you in some way.”

Now why am I blabbering about crimes and criminals…. Moving on… GOOD, BAD and UGLY is my blogpost after almost a year and a half. This one is my take on the age old topic of a GOOD GUY and BAD BOY… Please note… The good one is a guy and a bad one is a boy… Though I am not a particular fan of the term good guy… it seems too childish and goody goody to call him like that. So henceforth he shall be referred to as a NICE GUY.

So what is this whole thing about?? Lets start with the BAD BOY first…

Bad boys are always a hit amongst girls for some weird ass reason….. 23 and a half years have taught me this… I have tried to reason it out and here are a few things that I concluded…

· Bad Boys always have a certain mystery and the thrill of unknown around them which for some reason excites girls… I mean yeah it can be intriguing but it definitely cannot be the reason to do STUPID things..

· Bad boys always are necessarily accompanied with some bad habit… and for definition of bad habit… refer “Mom’s Dictionary”

· Now they aren’t evil either… What makes them bad is the very simple fact that they are not as good as the nice guys

· Over Gentlemanly and over chivalrous

· They are Super Jealous of NICE GUYS…

· One very simple point… A nice guy can become a bad boy and then do a reverse transition again… But once a bad boy … always a bad boy…

· Now bad boys further divide themselves into 2 categories.

o One which do exceptionally well in life…

§ Now these sons of bitches are the luckiest bastards alive… They freaking get everything they want… or so it has happened in the 23 years of life that I have seen

o The ones who don’t well in life.

§ Well the category speaks for itself (Again … No offence bad boys… Even Nice guys have this category… .. We will come to that)

Now … Moving on… The Nice guys…

There are no set of points for the nice guys… Typically these are

• Ones who follow rules… rather bends them only when needed…
• Take calculated risks
• Sincere
• Honest
• Understanding
• Adjusting
  

o Yeah this is like the biggest quality they have which generally screws them only.

· They aren’t the gentlemanly types okay… Again… a bad boy can be a better gentleman than a nice guy…

· Nice guys will be gentleman only when needed :P

Nice guys split up into two categories

o One with whom nice things happen and they finish first.

§ Now these buggers have everything going for them… Somehow they sail through everything and get all the glory and limelight associated with that. To quote an example of this… MS Dhoni… Sehwag… Kohli…. (might be lame examples but bhavnaaon ko samjho)

o The ones who suffer the most and yet don’t stop being nice.

§ Now poor souls…. They get their share of limelight but they never ever get their full worth. Simple example : Rahul Dravid.

§ He did everything…. Adjusted so much (told u na Adjusting quality is a bitch) … Right from opening the batting to wicket keeping… He did everything and was Always there…

§ Strong as AMBUJA CEMENT… The wall…

They generally finish last

This last type of Nice guys are the reason for whom I am writing this article… Poor souls.. Always there… but always underachieve.

Maybe there is a very cynical tone to this… but no…. These nice guys have one thing that drives them…. Most of the times it doesn’t matter to them because they are always optimistic about life… They believe whatever happens … happens for the best… (quite frankly they don’t have any other option in life but well … it’s a nice thing to wake up in the morning and feel that yes… today will be different) .

Don’t get me wrong… I am not saying that no one appreciates them, but its much less than what they actually deserve…( or so I feel.)

I have purposely left out other walks of life (read: girls) as examples for these 4 types because then the blogpost would be too obvious :D :P

Anyways… What is Ugly then…. I hope u are wondering about that.

Ugly is when the nice guy has it enough and turns bad… Things realllyy get nasty then… and no one wants that… (Trust me on this). The nice guys aren’t proud of it but then compromising all their life for the greater good isn’t the most comfortable thing to do either.

Mind you, a Nice guy can be badder than the baddest of the Bad guys… ( I mean this in the nice-bad way) … but then its not in his nature to do that…

To sum it up all... Salute to all the Nice Guys !!! and if you ask me … All the NICE guys are B.A.D (Brilliant And Decent!!!!)

As to who am I??? ….. I think different people will have a different opinion on this… but I think majority will answer the same :D :D

Last match on VJTI football ground!!!

Today was our traditional day in college. During a friendly chat with tanay and rhishi, i decided to play a football match from XYZ team (thats their real name...) in chetna.

Match was against my very dear friend Rhishi's team named Stallions.

The thing is that most of us were playing for fun. No one was aiming for the title or anything. We all just wanted to have maximum fun and that is what made the Match more special. Now i am a pretty mediocre player and u get to play 15-20 mins out of the total 40 then its a big thing for a person like me.

I got that... i played almost the entire match... I had a few good moments but the entire match was a dull affair for a third person. Not for us... all of us were enjoying each second of it.. there was no animosity , no greed to score goals... just the love of playing the greatest game with ur friends. It was MAGICAL!!!

the match ended in a draw and then we had a penalty shootout... Rhishi scored his first penalty and we were down 1-0. Then i stepped up to take mine. Few people from the opposing camp made a comment or two about me, but i really wasnt paying attention to anything. No dumbass could distract me today. Comments were very insignificant today.. i slammed my kick in the top left corner silencing anyone who doubted the fact that i could score..

the others missed their kicks whereas the opponents scored theirs... we lost 3-1.... but it didnt matter..

it was my last match on the most awesomest place in VJTI....

I was never in the college team and even though i spent most of my time on the subs bench for trical, i do share i special relationship with VJTI football... I was always a passionate supporter of VJTI football and Trical football team... Probably THE MOST ARDENT AND REGULAR SUPPORTER!!!

every memory of all the four years came flooding into my mind which blurred my view as i was returning home..

the first year enthusia in which i hurt my eye while playing the very first match on this pitch..... the constant cheering for VJTI while they played against other college... shouting "come on trical!!!! " at the top of my voice...

the memorable chetna match between rebels and DC which was decided in the last minute... the enthusia 2008 opening ceremony and matches which were equally competitive and memorable... spending every minute in college on the football ground in January... writing article about the matches for half time...... working as a CC and handling the entire event.....

standing on the same spot and cheering because its a lucky spot for VJTI team.... COME ON VJ!!!! COME ON VJ!!!!

last enthusia in which trical lost due to a last minute winner by Aditya Paranjpe (prod)...... everything is just so memorable and dear to let go..

there wont be any chetna from now on.... no enthusia.... no cloud 9 ..... no more COME ON VJ!!! COME ON TRICALL!!!!

this was too much to take... i will go on... do an MBA..... earn big bucks....... but nothing comes even close to an hour spent on this theatre of dreams!!!!! I may sound stupid but football is life and no matter how tiny a moment be... its too special..... i am at a loss of words and only true passionate followers of the game will understand what i have to say.....

finally the song which i could relate to this situation.... long long way to go... by led zepplin

http://www.lyrics.com/long-long-way-to-go-lyrics-def-leppard.html

check out the lyrics