The Rising Sun

The rising sun
age old
yet new and inspiring
lighting up the world
with its soft pink rays;
just watching the familiar hues
dance on the still water
I return to emotions
that never truly left.
Just as the sun sets
it rises again
wide arms embracing a new day.

- Li Steins -

Balle Balle!

In the coming 4 years the FIFA World Cup will be written as FIFA World Cup

Heh? Why?

Italy currently hold it, so it better be italicised!! ;-)

Lots of ASS around these days

I have an exam this week and still this is the only thing I can think about. And then I congratulate myself thinking that how creative I am!

Three of my friends here have initials AS. One stays in Grad hall, one in Nanyang heights and one in Nanyang Valley.

So what does that mean?

More than one AS = plural of AS = AS(S) = Ass!

Hihihi

Hope those guys do not read this post else am going to get a kick on my ass from one of those asses! ;-)

My Den

Wanted to post about my dwelling place earlier (when the place was cleaner) but could not do so. So this is what it is…my adda these days. Looked kinda small in the first impression, but seems to be just the right size after living in it for a month and half. Afterall, bigger it is the more there is to clean! :-)

Puchka!

I used to have a blog before this one. This piece was posted in that blog and am transferring it here now. Over the next few days I will transfer some posts here. This has nothing to do with your comfort but its basically that I want to delete that old blog permanently.

Not sure why...but I have been getting panipuri dreams lately! Its been a long long time since I had panipuri from a thela.

During one of these panipuri day dreams I recalled an incident..an incident which makes me so happy that i can't help but smile whenever I remember it.

He is a gruff looking old man with a distinct Bihari accent. I like his panipuri and often stop by for a plateful. Like all typical panipuriwallahs, he too has a handcart with a bright red cloth. Like all panipuriwallahs, he also serves 6 puris in a plate, charging 5 rupees for it. Like all panipuriwallahs, he gives you a complimentary "sukha masala puri" in the end.


A few months back I was having panipuri at his cart when a tiny girl ran up to him.


"Bhaiyya, 2 rupaye ka panipuri milega?", she chirped. She was dressed in a tattered frock, and her hair was unwashed for days. She could not have been more than 6 years old. Sparing even 2 rupees for panipuri was definitely a luxury for her. But the way her face glowed at the mention of "panipuri" made it obvious that she had given this expense a lot of thought.


"Haan, milega. Aadha plate.", the old man replied as his hand punctured a puri and filled it with ragda.


"Baad mein sukha masala puri bhi milega?" she chirped again.


"Nahi. Hum sirf poora plate ke saath hi sukha masala puri det hai.", he scolded her, as he dipped the puri with his hand into the pot of teekha paani.


The girl made a sulking face but handed him the 2 rupee coin nevertheless.


The old man handed her a plate and served her the first puri, filled with ragda, tamarind chutney, and chilli water. The little girl picked it up, the puri looking huge clasped in her tiny fingers. She raised the puri and gulped it, just barely managing to fit it into her little mouth. As she was eating the puri, her face was again radiating in a contented way.


The old man placed one more puri on her plate, then another one, and then one more. That made it four puris. I assumed he would stop, and give me the next puri.


However he placed another puri on her plate! Then three more, and that made it eight puris. Usually you get six puris for five rupees, but this man had given her eight puris for two rupees. I was puzzled.


So far, I had been looking at his hand as he dished out the puris. I shifted my gaze to his face and saw that he was looking at the little girl with an indulgent smile on his face. He gave a little chuckle as she happily gobbled down the puri and wiped her face with the back of her hand. The old man was clearly enjoying this display of unadulterated joy from the girl, the simple joy that comes out of eating something you enjoy.


The little girl placed the plate on the cart and said "Bas, ho gaya." Then she fidgeted around a little bit and asked in a low voice "Sukha masala puri milega?".


The old man got irritated and said "Boley na, Hum sirf poora plate ke saath hi sukha masala puri det hai."

Phew! Its over!

Finally finished my Financial Management presentation. Surprisingly went off really well. I was not all that confident before we begun, but kudos to my teammates… they rose up to the occasion. We had made a point to cover all the details, this meant that our presentation was long and could have become a tad boring, but in the end the prof was happy that we covered everything. Well, to bring in the humor part I volunteered and became a man and a woman at the same time (Randy and Kathy). This went well with the audience and some of them were asking me after the presentation if I would be wearing a skirt to the class next time around. :-)

Ok, enough of studies for the week. Had a tough week. Time to relax. Going for Munnabhai part-2 in sometime. Hopefully the movie is good and am able to stay awake after 5 sleepless nights (not exactly sleepless).

But, when is this class going to finish?? Hey prof…have mercy! It’s a sat evening and we made a good presentation…now please leave us!!!

Accounting accounted for!

Done with my Financial accounting presentation today. Was a gruesome experience. The prof grilled us for over 2 hrs. Imagine standing for 2 hrs in front of a class of 50. Anyways he did mention that this was the toughest presentation over the course and we did a good job. Got an ‘A’! Yay! Finally, I open my account of grades. Hopefully, it remains in the A range.

The prof for accounting is a absolutely no-nonsense prof. Black and white….no grey areas for him. He wants us to be crystal clear, no vague statements will do. Nice attitude I must say, and I think this is the kind of attitude required to teach a subject like accounting where everything is precise. Maybe in a course like marketing we can be vague and keep throwing out crap.

Anyways, this was the first hurdle, have a MBO assignment to submit tomorrow. Also need to read the case on Process Analysis of a chocolate maker. Then later in the afternoon my Financial mgmt (FM) group is going to meet to finalize the FM presentation. That’s on Saturday! Can’t wait for Saturday, me and my friends are planning to go for Lage Raho Munnabhai! Hope the presentation goes well so that I can enjoy the movie the way its supposed to be.

1/3 T1

Week 4 of the first trimester got over yesterday. This means that 1/3 of T1 is up. Thinking about this scares me a lot. I had a thought that a 16 month course would not be so intensive and fast-track. But it does seem to be.

I took some time to gear up to the speed, this meant that I had a huge backlog and now it seems there is no time to cover that up. I have exams in 12 days, and this week is full of assignments and presentations. Its so much different from the engineering times, where one could literally fool around for 5 months and still crack the exams after studying for a month. Don’t think this is going to work here. Anyways, am not complaining. I am happy that I realized this 4 weeks into the first trimester.

I have taken four courses this trimester.
Economic Analysis
Financial Accounting
Managing Business Operations
Financial Management

To be frank, am not upto the mark yet. Economic Analysis looks to simple on the face, but when the prof gives a case to prepare I am blank. The common sense is there but the economic sense has still not developed. Need to find a solution quick.. “How to think like an Economist?”

Financial Accounting is a foundation course on accounting. Initially it seemed to very hard, but slowly am coming to terms with it. However, I still need to practice a lot.

Managing Business Operations is by far the most interesting course this trimester. Atleast for me. But how I wish that we had a more commanding prof. A good prof would have made a deadly combo. Some people might argue that he is good and gives a lot of real life examples, but I feel that in those examples the real message gets lost most of the time. Anyways, the course is not bad and I have a special liking for it as I am interested in Operations Mgmt.

Financial Management is proving to be a tough nut to crack. No doubt it’s a very interesting course. Am learning a lot of financial jargon that I had heard and read about but did not really know what they meant. However, the application of these concepts is proving to be a real pain. The course is more on the quantitative side but it still does not shine a line in my mind. Need to gain a lot in this one!

Lets see how the presentations go this week. Should have some marks in my kitty by the end of the week.