You are a workaholic if...

1. The only way for you to remember birthdays and anniversaries is through your outlook calendar 

2. You are trapped in a kidnapped flight on way to Afghanistan and having been safely rescued, the first thing you do on getting a network signal is checking your mail. 

3.You make a ten page flowchart, and cross reference each node, to prove that Harry Potter universe just cannot exist. 

4. You consume less food/water because that would mean wasting time going to loo! 

5. You feel irritated that laptops are not allowed in movie halls. 

6. You can’t remember the last social function that you attended.

7. You wore a faded shirt to the seventy fifth anniversary of your parents

whereas you regularly get new suits tailored only for office wear.

8. All your relatives and friends have forgotten your name and refer to you as ‘That Guy’.

9. You feel that hobbies are something which are done when one has spare time.

10. The only time you've had off in the last three years was to attend your favorite uncle's funeral. 

11. You let the janitors out of the office before the start of the working hours and let them in after everyone has gone home. 

12. You have used “This is the last time I am working so late” at least three times last week. 

13. You cannot understand why people around you seem much more interested in talking among themselves instead of listening to you telling them about your new job. 

14. You tried your best to reschedule wife’s delivery to facilitate your client deliverable.

15. You slept off the joyride. 

16. You wonder why you cannot sleep and eat at the same time. 

18. You bought a Bluetooth headset so that you carry on a meeting while being on the call. 

19. You feel guilty when not working or doing something fun. 

20. Your idea of a family reunion is arranging a videoconferencing on skype for all the members. 

21. You actually went to a bookshop to search the very much talked about ‘Face’Book. 

22. Your playlist has not been updated for last 10 years. 

23. You bought an I-Pad for situations where you can’t work on laptops. 

24. You tend to send meeting appointments and subsequent reminders for lunch date with your wife.

25. You feel Baba Ramdev is a waste of time and 15 minutes of power nap can solve all the ailments and bring world peace. 

26. You actually have a spare sleeping bag and change of clothes in your office.

27. You did not see that number 17 is missing.

28. Now you scrolled back to check and are now smiling :D

Images Courtesy: ba6alah.wordpress.com, wildwomanfundraising.com, careerwatch.wordpress.com, sleepzine.com.

PS: I know #27 & #28 have been done a number of times earlier but this being my first list based post, I could not resist it!

Book Review: Darke – Book 6 of the Septimus Heap series

Caution: Spoilers ahead!

Having read the first five books of the series earnestly, it was for quite some time that I had been waiting for Darke to come out.

I wouldn’t say that the long wait was a wasted effort; though the book fell short of expectations. At least in my case.

To give a brief background of the storyline; the main protagonist of the story is Septimus Heap. The series follows the adventures of Septimus Heap who, as a seventh son of a seventh son, is supposed to, and partly does, have extraordinary magical powers. After he becomes an apprentice to the arch ("ExtraOrdinary") wizard of the series, Marcia Overstrand, he must study for seven years and a day until his apprenticeship ends. In the first book, he is known as Young Army Expendable Boy 412, until his great-aunt, Zelda Zanuba Heap reveals his true identity. His adventures are placed in the context of the warmth and strength of his family, and developed alongside those of Jenna, his adoptive sister, who is heir to the throne of the Castle, the community where they live. The novels, set in an elaborate fantastic world, describe the many challenges that Septimus and his friends must overcome. (Courtesy Wikipedia)

There are six books in the series: Magyk, Flyte, Physic, Queste, Syren and the latest Darke; in that order.

Now to the latest book.

In this volume, Merrin Meredith, apprentice to necromancer Domdaniel and now wearing his two faced ring has decided upon himself to setup a Darke Domaine in the castle and overcome even the Wizard Tower, with the help of his faithful THINGS. This Darke Domaine grows outward from the palace and is now threatening to overwhelm the entire city. Septimus is worried about his Darke Week where he must encounter the Darke and successfully avoid being lost in it. Unfortunately, the ghost of Ex-extraordinary Wizard, Alther Mella, has been banished Marcia Overstrand, the current Extraordinary Wizard, in a mistake and is not present to help. On the other hand is Princess Jenna in a tiff with the Port Witch coven. Beetle, on the other hand, involved in the entire charade in more than one ways: Having a crush on Jenna, past association with Manuscriptorium, association with Marcia etc.

Positives of the book:

1. The character of Beetle has been developed a lot with a good ending for him, for a change.
2. Since both Jenna and Septimus are coming of age, 14 years, in this volume; they both are coming to terms with the expectations that they have to fulfill – Jenna as the queen to be and Septimus as the possible candidate for Extraordinary wizard.

Negatives of the book:

1. While a lot of talk and impression were given as to Septimus having to go into Darke Halls to retrieve Alther, that bit went off fairly quickly and I felt that it could have been developed on at all. Especially since it seemed that visiting Darke Halls was all the more urgent for the removal of Darke Domaine.
2. More than usual detailing on Darke Domaine; at times felt it to be too lengthy and kept on going on and on.
3. At times Jenna and Septimus seemed a bit more childish. But I guess that can be explained as being a part of adolescence.
4. I was kind of looking forward to see more of Syrah and Jim Knee but they both were absent throughout.

A very surprising element was when Marcellus did something which I would have never expected him to do. That was a real nice bit.

Though, all in all a nice read and I will give it a 3.5 out of 5 rating.

The ingenuity that is IIPM

Let’s cut to the chase. We have all heard all sorts of stuff about IIPM, haven’t we?

I was reading through the various posts that I have subscribed to and came across a piece on IIPM written by my batch mate. The post can be read here.

 

That post got me to search a bit more on the topic, and by topic I mean IIPM, and by IIPM I mean Planman, and by Planman I mean Arindam Chaudhary because it’s not like they are different entities.

See that’s the beauty of it. On the face of it, it may seem like so many different entities. But it all boils down to the one and only stakeholder of that system: Arindam Chaudhary.

So, courtesy Google baba, I started surfing for the various forums and blogs with active discussions going on about IIPM. What I read astonished me, really! I was aware of some of the things but have never kept track of it all and it seems like so many things have been happening in IIPM’s context.

Some of my observations:

1. I am not sure about the actual education imparted to students, but looking at how vehemently they oppose anything showing IIPM in even the slightly negative light; I am bound to feel that either they are paid to be so or IIPM is a bigger cult that KKK or Masons etc ever were. Fanatic zealotry was the word which came to my mind, and which I do realize maybe redundant exaggeration but that’s what my first impression was.
2. Why is it that despite there being so much people are accusing an institution of and so much activity going on; the government or the education ministry has not taken a strict enough action against the concerned person.
3. While we are talking about Lokpal Bill in general, I feel that IIPM deserves a dedicated ombudsman of its own!

And despite all that is visible, or rather not visible but claimed in the advertisements, the institute has the audacity to sue Caravan Magazine, Penguin Publishers and Google for Rs. 50 crore for damaging its “repute”.

Do read the following post at Jam Mag which started all the brouhaha on IIPM. Though the post has been long removed from its original, rightful place; there still are soft copies available (Courtesy Google dev)

A useless observation, search IIPM on Google. Apart from the innumerous IIPM and branches and subsidiary and sister concern’s sites, not a good word anywhere!

Some of the very good articles that I read on IIPM and are a must read for everyone are:

Sweet Smell of Success: True Story of Arindam Chaudhury

IIPM – Best only in claims

The IIPM Blog Wars: We are with you Gaurav

The fraud that is IIPM

Wikipedia articles IIPM (Look at the controversy segment) and IIPM Controversy 

Images Courtesy: jobsearchingblog.com, iipm-india.info

Disclaimer:

Some people are trigger friendly. IIPM, on the other hand, is sue friendly. Hence, whatever I have written is of my own volition and my own viewpoint. Nobody else is responsible for it.

PS: I am not writing anything about the special "connection" that IIPM shares with IIM because an IIM being my alma mater, I feel that it might seem a bit biased. Rest assured, there are several standing jokes, not only at IIMs but at all other institutes with regards to IIPM; none of which I dare mention here because of the facts mentioned in the above paragraph :)

A colorless life!

Sunder is your average 7 year old kid. He lives with his parents. His parent migrated from Munger district of Bihar to Delhi more than 10 years back. They wanted to live the great Delhi dream of earning more than just their bread and butter. He has two siblings, a 12 year old elder brother and a 2 year old sister. Like all the kids of his age, he doesn’t want to study. All he wants to do is to roam around in Delhi, from this street to that street, sampling different kind of foods, playing different sports etc.

Except that in his case, he doesn’t have an option to study since his parents do not have enough money.

Sunder lives with his parents on the pavement around the roundabout in front of Jaypee hotel. They get all their postal and other communication delivered at pillar number 237, opposite Jaypee hotel; on the Dwarka – Noida metro line.

He roams from this red light to the next red light, at times even chasing a sympathetic looking lady in the car; hoping that this excursion might end up with him being a rupee or two richer.

He gets a different takeaway order every day, as they have to beg a different food stall owners for previous day’s leftovers.

In the name of clothing, all Sunder has a two shirts, which are by now so ragged that it is difficult to decide what color they originally had been. He has three pajamas which he wears in rotations, just so that he gets a feel of wearing something different than the usual stuff; though for all it matter, they are as different from other as a grain of rice in a pile. Though, he has a special set of clothes for some special occasions. A shirt, without holes, which might have been navy blue once upon a time but now is a faded blue with the face in beard in cap just barely visible. His trouser hangs only an inch above the ankles and can still be recognized a denim style.

What color do they have in their life, I wonder? If it were in my power, I would like to bring more color and joy to their lives; and not just the crimson color of their blood when they are hit by a runaway vehicle which crushes them in their sleep.

Image courtesy: wakasmir.com, cribb.in



PS: Do visit HP Laserjet site

The other day

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 21; the twenty-first edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

For this narrative, I am trying a little trick that I picked from one of Jeffrey archer’s short stories.

I will try and narrate a day in two different ways, how the things would have been different were one thing or the other turned out differently.

Janu didn’t want to wake up from his sleep. It wasn’t that he was feeling sleepy or anything. How could one with four others lying on a single cot in the hot and humid climate of Delhi, with nothing but the sky as a cover over their heads.

No. he did not want to wake up because of the tedious day which he knew was lying ahead of him. All he wanted to do was to keep on lying on the cot and not having to beg on the streets for once. But if that is going to fill his belly, then begging he would have to do. It’s not like he had any other option. At 7 years of age, there aren’t many employment opportunities for him. Well come to that, post recession not many opportunities for anyone. And having been separated from his family since that unfortunate incident 2 years ago hasn’t exactly turned the things in his favor either. How he longed for the day when he would be back with his family, or at least free of all the troubles and be able to have a normal life.

The other children in Janu’s group had similar background as him. All separated from their families at different ages, and for different durations. With parents who half of the time couldn’t care if one of their litter was lost or at the other times didn’t have necessary resources to search for their child. One thing was common in all of them. None of them, in their wildest dreams, could ever imagine getting back together with their family. Such was the plight of their being, having lost all hopes of ever reconciling with their brethren.

Today, the bhaiyya managing his group of 10 children came early to the shelter, if you can call two cots under the New Delhi station bridge a shelter. Not that he used to come daily, anyways. Bhaiyya ji generally did not come that early to the shelter. He used to come to the shelter on a weekly or a fortnightly basis to collect his share of the “collections”. Even when he used to come, it would be in the evening and in time for his “Get Togethers”.

So when Bhaiyya ji came to the shelter that morning, everybody was a bit surprised but so much used to him that they didn’t expect a lot different than the usual. But little did Janu know that things were about to change for him.

Bhaiyya ji announced that there was to be a rally at India Gate and that he needed a couple of children to take with him for begging and some low level pick pocketing if need be. This would also be a treat for the selected kids as it would mean a higher collection, equaling higher personal share as well as chance to scrounge on a whole lot of leftovers of the various kinds.

Janu was the first to think of volunteering and for the first time, felt that being young of age helped him somewhere as people were still bound to give him alms as compared to other grown up kids.

Now the two ways to proceed forward in this story are Gates of Hell and Heavenly Bliss, in that order.

Gates of Hell

Janu was so sure that Bhaiyya ji would pick him from the crowd. Bhaiyya ji, on the other hand, had different thoughts. He picked up two teenage kids who, due to malnourishment, looked younger than their age.

“I too would like to go” piped up Janu before he could stop himself, not that he really wanted to stop anyways. He was sick of being in this shelter or the New Delhi Station. Sick of all the sweat and abuses from people hurrying to their destination. He wanted a respite for a day. This, however, did not go down well with either Bhaiyya ji or his fellow mates, who looked as if they could kill him.

“So we have an outspoken one amongst us” chided Bhaiyya ji. “Perhaps some other time, but not today. Meanwhile I hope that you all can teach him a manner or two about addressing elders or you all would have had it.”

Moments after he left, all the rest of the kids gathered around Janu and began to beat him blue and black for bringing them so close to facing the wrath of Bhaiyya ji. Once done, everybody left him to nurse to his injuries and went off for breakfast. Every movement was a pain for him and he was not able to see from an eye. Not willing to take a chance of standing up and then falling down, Janu decided to keep on lying down till his body got partially used to the aches.

When, finally, he felt like being able to move, he went to to the eating area only to find that no breakfast was left for him by the others. Cursing his luck, he set towards his begging spot lest someone should take that too away from him.

Fortunately, or not so much, such was not the case and his spot near the red light was available for him. And so he began his day of begging the young and old, women and men, people in big cars and in small cars for whatever amount of alms. This being Monday was a normal day, unlike Saturday when he would be expected to wear black costume and carry a small pail with some oil in it. Or on Tuesday with Saffron attire and a plate with Lord Hanuman photo and incense stick.

So he sat on the corner when a white van with dark mirrors stopped on the red light. He made nothing of the van or anything. Suddenly, as the light turned green, two hands shot out of the van and pulled him inside. Before anyone around had any chance to react to the sudden development, the van was gone taking Janu with him; never to be seen in that area ever again.

A week later, an unidentified dead body of a boy was found dumped near old Yamuna Bridge. The boy was approximated to be around 7 – 8 years of age and had multiple bruises on his body with his rectum torn open, suggesting gross sexual acts committed to the boy.

And to think, it was the thought that some other day might be luckier for him; which used to keep him going.

Heavenly Bliss

Just as he had hoped, Bhaiyya ji picked the two youngest kids in the group, which of course included Janu. He felt the happiest that he has been in days.

Hopping in the back of a van with Bhaiyya ji, Janu and Kartik began to count their blessings and wonder what they would do with whatever extra money they are left with in the evening and what all would they see at India Gate. They had never had the chance to be away from their shelter or Station.

As it happened, the rally at India gate turned out to be a baba teaching his followers the best techniques to exercise in the ancient Hindu manner and how to cleanse the body of all that acts as a contaminant. While baba was not even the main event for Janu, it was the horde of people milling around to get a good look at baba, so that they can tell their friends that they met The Baba, without actually having to exercise. Even the weather was helping them out with the usual scorching sun replaced with slightly cloudy skies and fair wind blowing across the place. That alone made being out in the open more bearable than he could have hoped for.

With so many people around baba and his entourage, not to mention all the families out there, Janu soon realized more returns than he had ever been able to. To add to the bonus, there were several vendors around offering a wide variety of snacking options to families. It was more than a feast for Janu and Kartik as a lot of families were buying a lot of stuff but not being able to consume all of it, would pass them on to the loiterers. Once, he was even able to convince a memsahib to get him a packet of those fancy chips that are shown on the TV. An aunty also gave him a small car that her toddler was refusing to play with. The highlight of the day, however, for Janu was when he stumbled across a 5 rupees coin lying on the lawn. He decided to keep that a secret for himself and not having to share it with Bhaiyya ji. What a wonderful day this has turned out to be! He got to have loads of collections, food different from the regular daal roti and a return gift of a 5 rupee coin.

All those thoughts about a lucky day, this, he thought, must be it!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.