The Year that was... Annual Report 2007!

2007! A year i would not forget in a long long time.... It will be fair to call it a year full of surprises of highs and lows... a nice blend of salt and sweet... but i must admit... it was good over-all... starting on a high as always (pun intended) it was a year where i have made a huge number of new friends who i treasure, i have got back in touch with certain people i had got cut off from, lost a friend and more importantly have learned a huge deal... the first half of the year was rocking full of sweet moments with friends and family, and at a point of time i thought it wud b the very best year of the life, the second half had its share of fun as well as sorrows but has been extremely valuable as i have come through all that has happened a stronger individual and more learned... the high point of the year was the day when my CPT results were declared.. a pleasant surprise after many a sleepless nights (for various reasons). the low point well i would say the closing hour of scholastic beats 007 which didnot go the way it was planned...

Lessons learned and moments enjoyed i wish the year 2007 (my 19th) adieu and look forward for surprises in what would be my 20th year....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

YIPPPEEEYYY!!! tomorrow is a holiday!!! a rare thing i must say, gone are the good days where one could a month of winter vacs, its just 3 days in the month of December that you can look forward to... tomorrow being a holiday i really wanna make it big.. and make it count... the last few days were quite rough at the office.. and theres gonna b sum relief wid a hol tomorrow a "half day" on saturday a sunday break and hopefully an early off on 24th....

Nostalgia

Right through friday to sunday last, i was feeling extremely nostalgic, i kept getting reminded of my schooldays, in fact to be precise, the last few days of school, incidentally, two years back, we had walked out of those gates for the ultimate time as a schoolboy. It was an emotional moment that day, i still remember the day, we had big plans of a luncheon after school... we were really happy that school life had finally come to an end! On the other hand, we were sad to leave those hallowed portals where we had spent the best times of our lives....

The 16th of December 2006 it was, that was the last time i broke the school rules... the last day i had donned the school colours, the last time i sang the school song as a pupil! They say once a Martinan, always a Martinian, but there's a catch, after a certain point of time two letters are prefixed, and we too were awarded the two letters which told us "your days in school are over". We graduated to become Ex Martinians! For years we had waited for this very day, the day when we could write on our school shirts, the day when we could engrave our names on the round chapel stairs (in accordance to tradition) and more important the day after which, we could sport longer hair, facial hair, we could colour our hair, wear karas, etc, etc, and do all the things which we were prohibited from doing as a school boy....

All the excitement and elation were however drowned when we filed into the chairs in the Atmodaya Bhabhan (school hall) for one last time.. We knew it, the teachers knew it, the rest of the school knew it.. it was a day when one of the longest standing relationships would come to an end.. the relationship between our uniforms and us! that white shirt which we loathed, the grey trousers which were caked in dust after our football matches, our much loved black and amber tie and belt and obviously the school blazer... we would have to bid them a bitter goodbye... We knew we would be saying the school prayer and singing the school song for one final time... and this time we wanted it to be the best... all through the years, we never took them seriously, it was a mundane part of every morning assembly, but suddenly, these two everyday things took gigantic proportions as everyone almost shouted out the words of the school prayer and the school song was sung in perfect harmony! However, on the conclusion of the school prayer a very rare sight greeted the hall, a group of somewhat 150 odd students, the senior most of all, broke down, tears rolled down our cheeks by the time we reached the final verse... it was all over... school life had come to an end!

The martinian tradition was upheld as our shirts were dotted with farewell messages from the truest of our friends... some pockets were torn off, and the flash bulbs lit up every passing moment, an attempt in vain to soak in the last few moments, more a change, even the teachers allowed us to make a noise, they encouraged our shouting, we defaced our class room walls as we signed our initials on the walls with markers... this was followed by the last football match on the school ground... it was more of fruitless running around than playing the game.

Tired after the football match we had two last things to do, engrave our names on the round chapel steps and then ... walk out of those gates...

The relation with La Martiniere is far from over, we still go back to school on any given opportunities but it no longer feels the same, there seems to be a vacuum.. a vacuum perhaps created by the lack of uniform, the lack of rules, we can now.. walk into the teacher's staff room rather than wait outside, we can go to the principals office by the visitors entrance than taking the longer way to the office... a vacuum created mostly by the teachers, who treat us compatriots now, the sternness in there voice is lacking, the jokes and laughter flows, this was what we wanted once, but when we have got it, it doesnt interest us,, it feels eerie....

The corridors however have the same old worl charm, the charm which was there when we ran about in them from one class to another, the canteen food tastes as good as better... however there's a difference.. a world of difference.... created by two letter... "EX".

May our founder's name endure

Ever spotless, ever pure!

VIVE LA MARTINIERE!!!

Last week was one tough week... 6 back to back days at the office.. yes even saturday... its a pain.. seriously.... however, all the pains through the week were compensated for on sunday... a movie, loads of bhaat boka wid a 2 dear pals of mine and den... going out wid dad after quite sum time... it was a great way to sign off a hectic week... it all started today wid another stint at going to Dalhousie Square.... i went back to the grind, however, i have got quite a lot to look forward to this week, my chums from school are back in town (most of them are studying outta cal) and we are plannin sum adda and sum oder bawal plans to relive the golden days we spent together.... and well its that time of the year again.. christmas is round the corner and its a reason to celebrate.. hit the party scene in town... so lets hope for a "rocking" time....

cheers!!

Today was a day at the office... it was not very bad though... had to go for an audit to Fairly Place, well its a part of Kolkata not many people of our generation would know of, its in the heart of the business district and its tooo far... its about 5 minutes from the writers building also... so you can well imagine, getting there was quite a hassel (my first time mind you), the work was strenous and the hands of the clock barely moved, i was trying to 'vouch' through about 400 odd sale bills, but it was a nice change, kinda liked it especially bcoz i got off at 5..lol!!! gotto head back to the same place 2moro... and i gotta get dre early.. so dats it for now.. will keep u guys updated... ciao

Went to college today.. after quite sometime... it felt good to say the least.. however i dint attend any classes since classes have been dissolved.. i had gone to submit our internal assignment papers... we did spend quite a bit of time there chatting, transferring songs over bluetooth.. cracking stupid jokes and just having a fun time while some serious minded people sat in the library and tried to "study"... pretty sights they were i must say... however, they werenot too amused to see us making merry while they had to dig into there books.... we waited for our teacher to arrive before we submitted the papers and enquired about details about our exams..
after that we were off to haldirams to have a 'snack' at 1.30 in the afternoon... before heading home to get down with our books.. however i havenot still done that...
dats it for now.... catch u guys ltr...... cheers!

Its a brand new day...
atlast i am done with one of the biggest tasks i had for the current semester! I HAVE FINISHED LABOURING THROUGH MY ASSIGNMENTS!!!!! And the thought makes me really happy! One big task off my shoulders... I feel like rejoicing, celebrating and having a blast only to be reminded rather rudely that I haven't yet opened my books and my exams are nearing by the minute..
Pecisely, I have about 54 days to go through 5 books(that comprise of my syllabus).
Of the aforementioned 54, 10 can be deleted by way of partying and celebrating the Yuletide Cheer and the New Year... and the rest.. well i have to get my ass down to studies for a change....... but for the moment im busy making plans to watch a movie.. hopefullly khoya khoya chaand... lets c..... if i can hit it tomorrow with sum like-minded company.....

till then..... njoi life.... and thanks for stopping by...

Festivals???

What importance do we give to festivals in our daily life??? The answer would be a hands down yes! And I do not disagree... every time we feel elated when we hear about festivals! Festivals range from anything like religious ceremonies, weddings, birthdays to even frivolous 'days' dedicated to commemorate love, the relation between teachers, parents, friends, and so on and so forth…..

Our heart skips a beat….. the mention of a festival brings a smile on our faces, it gives us a sense of optimism. A chance to look forward to some revelry and take a break from our stressed out lives… isn’t that all? Isn’t that all that festivals mean to us…
Come on, when was the last time that you went and offered prayers at a temple during the durga pujas (navratras), all we care about during the pujas are the four days of ‘complete freedom’ a time of the year when all societal rules are relaxed, a time when u can enjoy ‘night-outs’, reunite with old friends at some pandal and chat for hours and not even step inside the pandal to check out the ceremonies which are in progress. Some others take a liking for dandiya all of a sudden and spend a fortune to head to a certain location in the city where a disco-dandiya has been organized, where bollywood celebs move their bodies to the latest hits, never realizing the real essence of navratras. The case is the same for the other festivals, namely diwali, kali puja, etc etc…. When did you last attend the midnight mass on Christmas Eve? Instead of being at a church going through the religious practices, we dance away the night at a night club or some party venue in high spirits! The same is the case with all festivals, Id is a time to gorge on biriyani and the New Year is just another excuse to lose one’s soberness.

Coming to the days of the year earmarked to commemorate relationships… The whole world is aware of friendship day! According to me the most ridiculous of them all! Text messages are sent, some people call and wish each other a happy friendship day on the first Sunday of August, following the custom, I do indulge in such activities… But how many of us actually mean it from the bottom of our hearts.. some people seriously do and I look up at them and realize there is goodness left in this world… However, in most cases, the word friendship is somewhat of a give and take relationship, a result of the commercialism setting in our lives. At times the give and take relationship makes way for a relationship which exploits the trust of an individual. It is a relationship where someone, befriends someone just to make use of his/her in some way or the other. And more often than not these are the people are the one’s who are the first ones to wish you… (banglaye bole “oti bhokti chorer lokhhon” meaning the more the virtuous, the greater the chances that the individual has got certain wrong intentions) the colloquial Bengali proverb is the most appropriate in such circumstances. When was the last time we called up a friend to just to say hi or to ask him how he was keeping, we certainly ask such things, but there is a hidden intention behind it.. we want some information, we want to use their contacts to get something done… isn’t that what we have in mind… Even at social occasions, we talk to known people (sometimes relations) just because they could probably help us out in the near future!

The world has reached a stage where festivals mean another day to hit the disc and get high or maybe meet some like minded people and have a blast not even remembering what the festival stands for… The most striking example being the 15th of August! Everyone takes a day off from work, has a nice meal and snores off for the afternoon nap not even bothering to spare a thought for what Independence Day means.. How much bloodshed was required to achieve what we have for ourselves? How many of us bothers to sing the national anthem or for that matter salute the national flag? We take everything for granted! Our friends are there as people who are there to help us out whenever we hit a spot of bother, our parents are there to finance our needs, our country to give us shelter and a safe livelihood, our schools/ colleges to give us those degrees which would help us rake in the moolah, our company to pay us the fat pay cheques, our loved ones to give us company and our respective boy friends/ girl friends to accompany us to social events, to the disc, to take care of us when we don’t even give a damn about all that they have done to make us stand where we are……

However, this is the way the world is, I am typing out these words now, but would I remember these things the next time a festival comes up, the answer is no.. its just another day to rejoice! So all I will do after I am done posting this scrap is; I’ll pick up my phone to make plans for the 24th nite…. Hahahaha! That’s the way it is…. But I thought it would be nice to think about these petty things for a change…

Cheers!

THE CHANGING FACES OF INDIA

“I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl.”
- Christopher Marlowe.

The early Europeans thought of India as the land with rivers of gold, a treasure trove of exotic spices, precious gems, and all the finer things of life. Following the arrival of Vasco da Gama on Indian soil, the riches of the country was exposed to the western world, what followed has been glorified in the musty pages of history. The year 1947 saw a much-deserved change in the fortunes of the Indian sub continent. India was liberated from the clutches of the British Raj. This however, left the subcontinent in tatters following a partition. It has taken five painful decades for India to recuperate from the blows suffered at the hands of the English. A number of wars fought; the increasing problem of cross-border terrorism between India and Pakistan and obviously the economic crisis faced by all under developing countries. Over the years, the country has rediscovered itself in many ways to survive in the intensely competitive scenario.

As we stand on the verge of the sixtieth anniversary of India’s independence, the country can boast of a large number of accolades, which has come its way. India is the largest democracy in the world; the second most populated country in the world and it is the seventh largest country in the world on account of area.

The Indian economy has grown in leaps and bounds over a span of 60 years, much of it coming post 1991, following the economic liberalization and globalization policies implemented by the then Finance Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the year 2005-06 has been recorded at a staggering 8.1%. The Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) crossed the landmark 10,000 points milestone in February 2006 and stands close to 13,500 points at present. India’s merchandise exports (in US dollar terms and customs basis) have been recording annual growth rates of more than 20% since 2002-03. In 2004-05 such exports grew to 26.2% to cross US$ 80 billion – this being the highest annual growth in the last 3 decades. Such exports are seen crossing US$ 125 billion in 2006-07. The fiscal deficit for the year 2007-08 has been measured to 3.3% of the GDP as compared to 3.7% in 2006-07. From April 2006 to January 2007, foreign direct investment is seen as US$ 12.5 billion. Such figures would bring a smile on the faces of the most pessimistic Indians. The graph of the Indian economy has certainly taken a turn for the better.

The growing number of acquisitions made by Indian entrepreneurs in the past decade can also trace India’s economic prosperity. A few are listed below: -

§ Wockhardt acquired the loss making Wallis laboratories of the United Kingdom (UK) in 1998 at US$ 8 million and turned it around in a year’s time into a profit making organization.
§ The Tata Group made a number of acquisitions namely, Tata Tea acquiring the UK tea brand, Tetley in 2000, the acquisition of US telecom network operator Tyco Global, the acquisition of Korean, Daewoo Commercial Vehicle in 2004, the acquisition of the Ritz Carlton Hotel of Boston, a strategic partnership with Fiat Motors in 2005 followed by an awe-inspiring acquisition of Corus by Tata Steel in 2007, making it the biggest foreign acquisition by an Indian company ever. This acquisition has helped Tat Steel become the world’s 6th largest steel manufacturer.
§ Lakshmi Niwas Mittal of Mittal Steel acquired Arcelor Steel in 2006 to become the world’s largest Steel manufacturer.
§ Videocon’s takeover of Daewoo Electronics is also ranked amongst the biggest foreign takeovers by an Indian company.

Indian’s can take pride in the fact that 3 of the world’s top 10 steel making firms are in Indian hands, Mittal Steel being undisputed leaders, followed by Arcelor Steel in second place and Tata Steel in 6th place. Tata Group was also enlisted by Forbes among the top 20 of the world’s most reputed companies in 2006. Dr. Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries Group is the 2nd largest spirits company in the world following a string of foreign acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

India has become a viable spot for many multinational companies with a booming economy mainly in the service sector post 2000. There has been the influx of multinational ‘giants’ like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Mc Donald’s, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut, etc tending to the gastronomic delights of the growing Indian population. Swadeshi pundits can take pride from the fact that the stiffest competition to these ‘giants’ come from 500 bhel-puri hawkers, 5,000 dabbawalahs, 40,000 illiterate papad makers and a ubiquitous brand called ‘soda shikanji’. The Indian variants of cheap fast food are giving the multi million-dollar Fortune 500 companies a run for their money. As the battle rages between these two extremes of the social strata, the onlooker can just be pleasantly amused to see an illiterate group of fast food makers ‘rule the roost’ in the Indian fast food market. What more, they have made the multinational ‘giants’ dance to their traditional tunes with Mc Donald’s introducing “Mc Aloo Tikki’, Pepsico launching a ‘lemon flavored 7up’, ‘Lay’s Chaat Street’ chips and Pizza hut introducing ‘Tandoori Tikka Pizzas’ to catch up with the famous Indian delicacies. The times sure are changing! Gone are the days when the local companies were cowed down by the ‘much acclaimed’ marketing policies of the MNC’s.

After taking a careful look at the success of homegrown companies taking the largest slice of the consumer group, one cannot stop humming “Happy days are here again!!!” and rightly so. The face of India Inc. is changing for the better. Soon India will stand to claim a place among the elite group of ‘Developed Countries’.

But alls not well in India Inc., to highlight the negative developments, one does not require to dig deep, with the inflation rate being at a all time high ranging between 5.2 – 5.4 %, Political disturbances hitting the length and breadth of the country, specifically in West Bengal with the recent classes following the SEZ (Special Economic Zone) controversy surrounding Singur and Nandigram, ‘24 hour bandhs’ have become a monthly affair. The most prominent shortcoming of Indians can be taken from the field of sports, where the performances of Indian sports stars are fast dwindling. The last talent produced in the field of Hockey being Dhanraj Pillai, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati in their mid thirties, making a valiant effort to preserve the face of Indian tennis (in spite of the fact that their chemistry marks are rather low these days!). And of course, the tragic fact that the highest accolade won was being ‘runners-up’ in the cricket world cup post 1983. in a country where cricket is a religion and cricketers are ‘demi-Gods’, a first round exit in the show-piece cricketing event can mean nothing short of a gross devaluation of the nation’s pride. Astonishingly, the Board of Cricket Control India (BCCI) is the richest cricket board in the world and contributes up to 75% of the revenues of the International Cricket Council (ICC)!

The face of India keeps changing leaving the world perplexed as India keeps rediscovering its strengths and weaknesses in different spheres of life. However, the great economic development and financial prosperity of modern India (owing to the booming Services sector) keeps hopes alive amongst the nation’s fast growing population. That seems enough for the ‘corrupt’ politicians to come out with glorifying slogans like “India Shining!” to capture the electorate every 5 years.

After all, we are a very special nation, which still values family, love and all things wonderful… So lets toast to the country to mysterious and so wonderful…

“Phir Bhi Dil Hain Hindustani!!!”

The memories of the 2nd of December '07 will be etched in my mory for a long long time... the India Pakistan test being underway at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata; it wa sa long time dream to be a part of the action from one of the galleries at the best cricket ground of Asia. Saturday evening was tense as i kept calling a number of people to get hold of tickets to the extravaganza. A time hasd come when I gave up hope of being present at the amphitheatre of my dreams...

However, i had a bit of good luck when i got a call informing me that the tickets had been arranged for. I had sumwhat of a sleepless night, excited and looking forward to the next day... sleep hit me in the early hours of the morning, soon to be rudely woken up by my dad to tell me that i had overslept. I barely had time for a bath and quick breakfast before i set off towards Garihaat to meet my frends Somreet and Srijita before we headed to Central Avenue to pick up the tickets.. a good 45 mins later.. we were near the gates of the Eden Gardens exchanging the tickets to ensure the three of us got to sit together. We manged to get ourselves tickets in the K block of the ground.. (beside the life members block in the pavilion end of the ground). The match was underway with Kumble leading the men in white against the pakis. The pre lunch session was packed with action as 4 wickets were taken and the pakis were on the backfoot.. after lunch however, the match got boring as no wickets fell and the pakis staged a comeback with 22 centuries.. but he action was on in the stands with bizzare comments, the crowd dancing with flags, arguements with the cops on duty and ofcourse the mexican wave which even touched the distuinguished guests in the club house... the end of the day saw another wicket fall but by then we were out of the grounds strolling on the maidans and were witness to a spectacular sunset... the day was great just fantastic a dream come true for me....

Well this is my first attempt to blog. I was introduced to the concpet of blogging by a frend of mine and I thought I wud like to give it a try.... Well today i got to get back to work and i do it with a disgusted groan... back to the boring office doing mundane things in an attempt to learn the intricacies of the accounting system in the country and with the hope that some day all this hard work will pay off dividends in the form of two letters being prefixed to my name.... A lot is happening in the city right now specially India and Pakistan playing a test match at the Eden Gardens and the thought of me sitting barely 700 metres away from all the action in a dark office room gives me a sad feeling. All I can do to reassure myself is check the latest score on my mobile phone and hope that next time India plays at the Eden Gardens, I can make it there... Its been almost twleve years since i last visited the amphitheatre to witness a song and dance extravaganza to mark the opening ceremony of the '96 cricket world cup.