Haryana - Beyond Belief!

Thinking back to the time when I was in the North-East for a short while, I remember how the Bodos & the Ulfa were feared & resented, but little had I imagined that Haryana would be as shady a place or worse! Who needs infamous tribals when your average joe here can more than fill their shoes..?! Just two years in and such a multitude of close encounters already…

I suppose it was just a few months after our group of IOCL batchmates moved to Panipat, that two of my colleagues were looted at knife-point by an autorickshaw driver and his accomplices. And as if this wasn't appalling enough... Not long after six senior officers of our department were on a night out when they had an encounter supposedly with gangster L***ence B***noi and two of his armed goons, or at least some drunk impersonators from the heinous gang, who nonetheless pointed loaded pistols may be to attempt a carjacking or simply to have some sick fun in their own sadistic way… We shall never know… The only reason why everyone survived unscathed was probably because the vehicle belonged to a fellow Punjabi. Furthermore, rather recently I was flabbergasted to see people rioting to protest against the arrest of a convicted R** R**im where on the other hand the unfortunate death of more than 120 children at a hospital in Gorakhpur within a span of few days, hardly evoked any response from the masses at all.

Other than these specific events, there is also the so-called ‘Jat Andolan’ which has become an annual festivity for the local populous when the harvest season is over. With nothing to do for about a month the lower strata of Jat embark upon a journey of pillage & plunder, looting and laying waste to everything in their way under the pretext of protesting against the non-reservation of Jats for special benefits. Burning buses & toll plazas, ransacked jewellery stores, rampant arsony in all forms are a common sight. Life comes to a standstill until the military is forced to take up arms. Even the Haryanvi language is extremely crude, lacking all the courteous syllables in Hindi, and their body language disrespectful adding further flavor to the dialect.   

All said and done, one must realize that one’s safety is his or her own responsibility. Constant circumstantial vigilance is probably the best way of avoiding any kind of unnecessary conflict altogether. But when push comes to shove, and one gets cornered with no apparent way of talking his or her way out of it, with the path of retreat cut off, and if compliance is not an option even by a long shot, basic robustness and some self-defense can and do come in handy, may be even posing as a deterrent. Although this might sound silly when faced with guns and knives, at the end of the day the sane individual does what he or she can to survive, given the situation and the choices available. Losses can be of many types; financial, academic and what not… But the loss of life is simply irreversible and every life lost is lost forever… So…

TAKE CARE & STAY SAFE!!!

Thorough Professionalism

We all like to call ourselves professionals, but are we really? What is it that constitutes thorough professionalism?? What is the measure for this abstract concept? Well, I guess it’s time we review... When people think professionalism they think of something big but professionalism is reflected in the minutest things.

Well, for starters, how do you introduce yourself when making a call..? For example, I’m used to receiving official calls their introductory statement being “Who is speaking?” Now, if you do not know whom you are calling then why was the call made in the first place? Secondly, why should the receiver of the call bother to introduce himself when the one making the call is the one who needs to converse? If you simply want to confirm who is at the other end of the line, then introducing yourself first and saying “May I speak to XYZ?” is probably the best approach.

Another thing that strikes me as comical is that some people simply shun ownership & responsibility in any and all even mildly tricky situations. They have a ready answer: “Talk to my boss!” The point is if you cannot back your own actions & at least try to find the solution to a problem, then why hire a specialist like an engineer, scientist, designer or any other suitably qualified personnel for that matter..?! Although uncertainty caused by initial lack of experience is common and some crucial decisions may need intervening, turning to your superior for each and every run of the mill detail displays your lack of confidence & laziness and before long the world will simply bypass you while you remain stuck as a mediocre professional at best.
  
Coming to the work itself, no matter which field you are in, there are certain thumb rules that I feel apply almost everywhere. For example, I work in the technical field, which entails loads of managerial duties as well. And as far as the technical work itself goes, I’ve been put in a multitude of different units within a short span of time and expected to learn and contribute in them all. In today’s fast paced world the old adage 'jack of all trades, master of none' doesn’t seem to apply anymore. Either you adapt or you fold, but 'master of all trades' is the in-thing now. I’m glad that I did my first failure analysis some time back and intend to work on papers to be published at forums like CORCON, etc. I find trying to do a little bit extra on a daily basis, even something as simple as making a trend to study a pattern, extremely worthwhile & rewarding.  So, as far as I’m concerned my professional contribution has begun already.

Lastly, the one thing that I’ve noticed almost everywhere from firsthand experience in both govt. & private firms is that people are quick to judge an individual or a group that too after observing just a tiny fraction or aspect of the person or team. Well, although it is important to form an opinion of someone to deal with them in an appropriate way, I’d rather suggest analyzing in place of judging, which would be an unbiased & therefore a truly professional thing to do. Now then, having gone through this article, it is time to ask yourself the same question again... Are you a professional???

An Engagement for the Ages!

Wait! Is it still July?!... As my wedding date draws nearer the months seem to be getting longer and longer. It has only been two months since I got engaged and it already feels like two decades. Well, engaged or should I say blessed? In our community, instead of a traditional engagement the bride and the groom undergo an Aashirwaad (blessing) ceremony, while ring exchange takes place at the marriage itself.

Nonetheless, this period is a once in a lifetime & unquestionably special time for me. Certain dates have already assumed indescribable meaning for both my fiancée & I, including the thirteenth of March when we first met & the seventh of May when we finally committed ourselves officially. It’s also during this span that I’ve begun to understand the significance of a promise for the first time, although applicable to different domains for different individuals. You break your word... You break someone's trust in you...  

The happiness of a person is a complicated thing these days. You can resolve to give your life, if need be, for someone you love but then have you ever considered that life will probably never be the same for that certain somebody without you, if it can be called life at all. It is a fine balancing act where you have to walk the tightrope between every decision you make. Other things like careless driving, etc. are just not an option especially when there are those waiting for you to return home safely at the end of the day.

Well, everything aside, nowadays a majority of our time is being taken up by shopping, honeymoon planning and what not. I’m grateful to both our families for all the support they have lent from day one to help bring all this to fruition. And now I guess it is all about the wait, as the daily count-down clock ticks along...

7th May'17 @ Gorakhpur # Aashirwaad

Wedding Bells Ringing!

Probably one of my last bachelor parties... #Officers' Farewell, 2017

Lucky are those who find love but luckier are those whom love finds! I guess the time that marks the end of my uncommitted wanderings and those wacky bachelor parties has finally arrived. As the Indian society steadily evolves with people becoming progressively vocal about their desires, the era where love meant eloping with your partner and an arrangement literally meant a blind wedding, is slowly but surely drawing to a close prompting such nomenclatures as ‘love - cum (no pun intended) - arranged’ to gain traction, although at times still misplaced at the butt end of unflattering wisecracks. In essence, one's academia, professional networks, communities or other such commonalities may play cupid in introducing a promising couple to one another, with the final call to run with the ball however undividedly resting with the latter, ofttimes culminating in an official relationship or more. It was no different in my case...

Having had my equitable chunk of intimacy with the fairer sex over the past septennial or so, from pretentious callow missies readily falling head over heels to touchy-feely hypocrites beyond the pale of their own self-set pre-marital boundaries, I think I’d notice a red flag a mile away... But this surely wasn’t one! I remember the first time I had met my gal... She looked dazzling draped in an elegant silky blue saree, the depth of her gaze, the simplicity of her smile and her beautiful flowing hair, working their charm. I think we were smitten with each other almost instantly... We started chatting and dating, and things moved so fast from there on, with no formalities, no confusion, no pathetic friend-zoning for years on end and hence no restraints, that we knew we were in for the long haul! Sorry for any broken hearts along the way ;P  

So, although it was a whirlwind romance in my case, but this entire process of bride hunting from the perspective of both self and kin can be a real eye-opener for many! So, how exacting do you think that finding a decent, leave alone a perfect match of choice for an eligible groom can be? I mean look at the number of parameters that are taken into account at least by those sensible enough, starting from looks, education & family background to medical, occupational, cultural & emotional rapport & what not! The list is endless...

So, first... Looks! What is it all about? Although science claims that on an absolute scale a person whose facial and bodily proportions closely resemble the golden ratio could be termed beautiful, as such shapes apparently facilitate easy scanning of images by the human eye & subsequent interpretation by the brain, the reason behind it has not yet been completely unraveled and I feel beauty is far more subjective than that. After all, we all have our unique tastes and judge with different measuring sticks (again no pun intended)!

This is furthermore reflected by the fact that people for the most part, have opposing inklings about the same photograph, which may by the way be a very poor and incomplete depiction of oneself far removed from reality. Some gape wide-eyed in awe while certain others with chronic low self-esteem, probably never having been acknowledged themselves, view everyone else too as average or ‘just another pretty face’. Oh, and a minute of silence for those who would rather bash the bishop to anime chicks than engage in amorous congress... Hehe... Sorry, that one really cracks me up! Nevertheless, it’s your opinion that counts because at the end of the day it is your life and no one else’s.

As far as I'm concerned, the girl I would eventually fall in love with is undeniably the most ravishing in my world. A lawyer by profession, she’s perfect in terms of locational compatibility too. We survived a scare about her blood group being rhesus negative but fortunately it turned out to be otherwise. What all of us must realize is that if we are determined to find a flaw in someone theoretically perfect in every way, we will still succeed by detecting faults where none exist! Hence, within the limits of practicality, I know for sure that you are my perfect match my sweet Acushla, and I confess that never before have I nor ever will I feel love in its truest form as I have felt for you...

The Cosmos

Although my career path has strayed a long way from astrophysics, which was my dream topic of study back when I was a child, that doesn’t stop me from being wowed by the cosmos every now and then! I mean how could it? After all, one of the, if not the greatest, minds of our time, Albert Einstein spun crazy theories in his head sitting in a patent office that were later proven to be right! There is so much that we do not yet understand and so much that intrigues me, I wouldn’t know where to start...

Just for instance... Try to wrap your head around general relativity and you’ll surely have some sleepless nights! So, how can you visualize your mass increasing with velocity and reaching infinity at the speed of light? Well, I figure the faster one goes, the more the space-time fabric curvature, which is what mass really is, and close to the universal speed limit of light, this fabric reaches its breaking point beyond which it can stretch no further.

Similarly, let’s say I’m going from point A to B with velocity ‘v’ in time ‘t’, while you are covering the same distance with velocity ‘2v’... You should ideally reach in time ‘t/2’ right? Wrong! At normal earthly speeds the difference is negligible, but close to the velocity of light your mass, and as a result your gravitational pull would increase so much, that from your perspective the point B would appear closer than it actually is or we could say that your perception of time itself would change with respect to mine! This is what is meant by time dilation looked at from a layman’s point of view. With this, Einstein explained that a person travelling close to light speed would age much slower than a stationary person. But there is no need to think so big for experiencing time dilation as it is being practically used as a correction factor in our GPS on a daily basis!

Moving on to some modern day theories that are taking the world by storm: string theory and M-theory... 11 frigging dimensions! Seriously? Well, try to use your common sense and it’s really not that difficult to visualize... 3 space dimensions and 1 time dimension can be easily understood by all as these accurately describe your position in the space-time fabric. But what about choice? Even at a single instant there can be infinite possibilities and if you consider all instants since the beginning of time (if there indeed is such a thing) you can see the higher dimensions piling up leading to a multitude of parallel universes, the sum-total of which is referred to as the multiverse. The mathematically elegant M (membrane) theory further suggests that the relative weakness of gravity can be explained in terms of open strings that leak gravitational force to a parallel universe, as compared to other natural forces which exist as closed loops. Furthermore, it theorizes that the ‘big bang’ actually resulted from the collision of two parallel universes!

Oh! Well... Not everything has been proven yet but one genuine doubt that I have is, what was it like before everything as we know it came into existence? This question, leaving all the other holy grails of science aside, has pricked me most of all... How can nothing exist?? The very terms ‘nothing’ & ‘exist’ are contradictory to each other, which is what has led me to think that may be positive & negative mass particles existed together and their sum total was zero. The existence of negative mass particles, anti-matter and what not has already been partially proven although we don’t have much knowhow of these strange elusive particles... May be even now nothing exists... We just cannot perceive our negative counterparts!

Last but not the least, reverting to a thought touched upon in one of my previous articles 'A Recurring Doubt', what purpose does our existence really serve? That might be a pessimistic way of looking at life but I mean, come to think of it, what difference would it have made if none of us were ever born? ...if life never existed? ...if the earth never existed for life to have flourished on it? Would it make a shred of difference to anything else that’s left? Truth is we don’t know yet but do we really want to know? What would remain if and when we figure out everything? All this has made me realize that the best way to perceive life is to take it as an unending exploration hoping that answers keep unveiling themselves at opportune moments but this crusade of discovery will probably never culminate... You reach a wall and theoretically there will always be something beyond it! And that is precisely what makes it all the more exciting! As a result, I've been led to believe that at the end of the day no matter what field of life you’re in, striving towards achieving success in it will contribute to this mass quest of ours... So, let us all be the torch-bearers for humanity & see how it all unfolds!

Destiny Calling...

Seventy one articles, summing up nearly every landmark event that has crossed my path and every cerebration that has ever crossed my mind... I guess out of all things, this blog comes the closest to defining who I really am today! Sometimes, when I've nothing else to do and read some of my previous articles, it is like going through a psychological case study on yourself. It just makes me sit back and think about how each one of us is molded by time and altered bit by bit with every happening in our lives...

Now, as people of my age group slowly begin to settle down, getting into the groove professionally and personally, establishing ourselves in the world, I feel we should never let go of the ladder which brought us to this pedestal. Carrying all our past experiences not as a burden but as a passive shield, helps take on the future head on. The hereafter that awaits is an active playground open to all possibilities, and needs to be taken by the horns.

I've learned so much... Folks usually get a wind of how the world works may be by going through certain upheavals first hand, but I'm glad to say that there isn't much that I regret doing or having not done. If the world sees you how you would like to perceive yourself, then you are where you need to be. How the world treats you however depends on how you perceive the world.

I once asked a friend of mine how to make something special... His answer was simple: "You don't make something special; it simply becomes special". That really was an eye-opener, as I had always held the opinion that what makes something exceptional was exclusivity and uniqueness, and although that might play a part, doesn't a simple dinner shared with someone dear usually taste better than an expensive five-star one had alone? Also, remember that blank scroll in the Kung Fu Panda movie? Oh well! Enough rummaging for answers already... A quarter of a century worth of knowhow ought to be enough for a decent start.

So, what now? Destiny calling? As far as my current bearings here at Panipat go, the stage is all set for fate to reveal itself. As I convert my leased accommodation into a home away from home, even the landlord and landlady seem to be getting used to the idea of having me around, inviting me to marriage parties and a lot more. Even at the workplace, as I get acclimated to aligning my thoughts and actions in tune with IOC's vision, I hope in the long run I make a quantifiable impact on the oil and gas sector at large. A few more crucial elements added to this unending process of discovery called life over the next year or so, and I'll be ready to take it to the next level... Until then, three cheers and good luck to all!

Home away from home...

Final Juvenile Odyssey

There are some things that words simple cannot describe... When you’re possibly on your concluding juvenile trip in the wake of your 25th birthday, off to the southernmost corner of India on an official tour and yet end up visiting a total of not one, not two, but no less than six cities with some of your closest friends and colleagues, along with meeting up with some old buddies, then that’s really something else! Marked by vigorous energy, puerile jokes and a lot more, this was one experience I’m glad not to have missed out on.

Our journey took us from Panipat to New Delhi and then through Bangalore, on our way to Trichy, where we had a two week IOC-sponsored training programme at the Welding Research Institute of BHEL. Our half-day halt at Bangalore enabled us to pay a brief visit to Mysore, better known as the City of Palaces, which is where our real escapade begun... Returning to a place that I had visited at a very tender age with my family, it felt nostalgic to tread the hallways of the Mysore Palace once again as a young adult. The memories although vague and the recollections inaccurate helped me quietly time travel for a while. There were tonnes of other sites to travel to, but due to a tight schedule the only other place we could visit was the Sand Museum, showcasing complex sculptures ranging from ancient, medieval to modern times, that left us mesmerized.

Arriving at Trichy the day after, I was pleasantly shocked to find a birthday cake awaiting me in my hotel room at 4 am in the morning. I was supremely amazed by the hospitality showed by Hotel Sangam although I was to later discover that the surprise was partly my parents' handy work. Nonetheless, it really made my day and proved once again that there’s truly nothing that compares to having loved ones! After attending classes for the rest of the week it was the weekend that provided us with another opportunity to ramble.

We started early in the morning taking a few winks on the way, to reach Madurai, also known as the City of Festivals or the Temple City, at day break. First up was the famous Meenakshi Devi Temple! The prayers, although offered in an ungraspable tongue, truly ignite a spiritual vibe within... The towers that surround the temple in all four directions form an intricate lacework, with a lake at its heart and gold adorning its pillars. There wasn’t a square inch on any surface of the layered architecture that characterizes this place, left unsculpted. There were deities, artwork and carvings wherever the eye would gaze. The entire aura of the temple left us speechless and spellbound!

After visiting some more of the lesser known temples in the region that I feel share the DNA of the Meenakshi Temple, and having a typically South Indian breakfast served on banana leaves, we made our way to Rameswaram, where legend has it that the Ramsetu was constructed. We were fortunate enough to take a look at the house of late Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the highly respected ‘missile man’ and former president of India, who is a shining inspiration to many including myself. We followed this up with a visit to the Rameswaram Temple, where unfortunately photography was not permitted and spent the rest of our time until sundown watching a beautiful sunset at the beach.

For the next few days, after returning to Trichy, we managed to squeeze a few hours out of our daily schedule to visit some nearby tourist destinations including Thanjavur, and the local Srirangam and Rockfort Temples. The uploaded photos I think would do a better justice to these awe-inspiring places, as a picture speaks more than a thousand words, in fact some of which haven’t even been invented yet! As we bid farewell to Trichy I was faced with a unique chance to meet some of my dearest pals in Bangalore and bring the curtain down on a chapter that I felt I had left unfinished due to my unannounced departure from Flipkart a year back. Never the less, as we slowly traced our steps back to Panipat, I dreamily pondered upon the enigmatic expedition we had been lucky to be a part of...

For the Enthusiast in You!

With all the growing festivities including Vishwakarma Puja and Durga Puja right round the corner, the ongoing parties interjected by work (or was it the other way round?) having barely subsided and an official tour to Trichy scheduled a month forth, I thought I’d just step back for a while and write on something a little off-course, but nonetheless something I’m deeply interested in and researching which I’ve taken up as a serious hobby since quite a while... There are tonnes of topics out there, starting from the mysteries and complexities of the human mind to the possibility of finding extraterrestrial life in the universe that is one of the holy grails of modern science, which can instantly get me riled up and talking. But very few of those connect to me as much as... CARS!

It might sound a bit anticlimactic but imagine where we would all be without the science and engineering behind commuting. Don’t get me wrong! It’s of course not just about commuting but also about speed, torque, power, acceleration... Hoof! I just love uttering those words... One can find these elsewhere too, including spacecrafts, aero planes, trains and in a myriad of other exotic machines, but there’s only one that all (or at least most of) us have been behind the wheel of! Cars!

So what is it that makes a car a car? Of course it’ll have an engine, a drivetrain, a chassis and a set of wheels, but aren’t the intangible things as important as the tangible ones? So before we get into the scientific jargon in automobiles, let’s talk about style... The exterior design, or let’s say looks, of a car is the first thing that catches the common gaze and defines a car’s personality. Now, why is it that we attach human traits like style and persona to a vehicle? May be because the traits of the vehicle define the owner’s identity as well? So other than practical aspects of style like aerodynamics and LED lamps, the flowing curves and the muscular contours really get our adrenaline pumping!

Audi Q3 Quattro Test Drive!

I’ve been fortunate enough to have driven a wide variety of cars over the last couple of years, starting right from low end Maruti Suzuki hatchbacks to high performance SUVs like the Audi Q3 Quattro, and of course everything in between that was accessible to me including sedans from the house of Toyota, Chevy and Honda. The cars themselves offer an insight into their companies’ philosophies, which in itself should be a subject of study. For example, some brands use turbo- or super-chargers to deliver higher power from smaller engines while others prefer larger naturally aspirated ones to deliver uniformly high power throughout the rev-range. Some have an SOHC while others a DOHC. And then there’s the eternal debate over an auto transmission known for shifting efficiency and straight-out speed and acceleration versus the good old manual tranny with stick shift, loved by auto enthusiasts for the complete control it offers.

Moreover, nowadays as fossil fuels gradually become a thing of the past and gasoline engines obsolete, car technology is being pushed into the future by revolutionary companies like Tesla with their all-electric hyper-cars like the Model S which can go from naught to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds, thereby shattering the 'toy car' image of the electric vehicle! Other prominent developments include a self-healing coating for cars, which uses chitosan that is derived from chitin, the main component of exoskeletons of crustaceans, that heals its own scratches when exposed to sunlight. Also, BMW promises the world's first completely self-driving car by 2020.    

Indian manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki swap out a few extra horses for a few extra miles per gallon, offering maximum features in their vehicles at a relatively budget price, in tune with the economy oriented Indian mentality. On the other hand, the Volkswagen Vento is a torque monster in its segment with a solid German build, though the design being a bit Plain Jane. Soft sprung Hyundai cars offer good ride quality and a handsome fluidic sculpture but have poor handling and minimal steering feedback. Honda cars not only have good driving dynamics but are also comfortable, although they lose out on high-speed stability like the City with its skinny 175/R15 tyres. I myself was in a dilemma over my first car, so I thought of going for the Ciaz while my parents buy the City. So, for all the motor-heads out there... Good luck car hunting and cheers!

**A word of caution: Drive only AFASP i.e. 'A's 'F'ast 'A's 'S'afely 'P'ossible!

Ciaz & City! #Rivals united

The Soul

The 'soul'... A simple word with massive implications! Does it really exist? If it does, then is it the answer to life's origins? But before we jump to any staggering conclusions, let's ask ourselves this... What is the soul really? Although till date I've thought of it as nothing but merely the energy in living cells, is there something more to it than that? The definition of the soul varies from religion to religion, region to region and person to person, but is it really that complicated?

Right from ancient times generations after generations of people and gurus have tried to unravel the mystery of the soul, never fully giving a scientific base to it. Some say that the soul preserves our true identity using the body only as a vessel to manifest itself in a tangible form. And when the current vessel is no longer able to contain the soul, it simply changes vessels, thus explaining life and death with a cycle of reincarnation. It is an interesting theory that is more akin to science fiction than science, unless backed by some hard evidence and solid data.

There have been cases where people have seemingly remembered who they were in their past births or those who have spoken in languages they've never been taught. Well, keeping the authenticity of such reports aside, can't these be explained in simple medical terms? How about hallucination or paranoia? The mind does work in strange ways and we are just beginning to scratch the surface when it comes down to understanding how the brain works.

In fact, people are so intrigued by the concept of the soul that an experiment was carried out in 1901 by Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who sought to measure the mass lost by a human when the soul presumably departed the body at death. Although his subject did lose about 21 grams, the results as later pointed out, could easily have been explained by fluid loss. A brave attempt nonetheless!

So what are my thoughts on the matter? Looking at it from a layman's perspective, there is one thing that pricks me... All life started from a single cell, for which there should have been a single soul (assuming it to be a little more than just energy). That means as the number of species grew and their populations increased, more and more souls were created... But from where? Divine intervention? Getting past that, logic dictates that whatever can be created can also be destroyed, which goes against the common notion that souls can never be eradicated.

Oh wait! May be some souls just freely float in the vacuum of space! If so, what is their purpose? Can souls fuse or do they split like cells? At this point, I really wonder whether I should call myself spiritual or an atheist. There is no way that we can prove or disprove any of this unless we can grasp the physical significance (if any) of the soul and come up with some sort of measure for it. Until then it is all just wild conjecture and so the goose chase continues... But as far as I'm concerned, we live only once, so let's put our lives to the best use possible!

The Foodie's Guide to India

Although a great foodie, to be honest I've never been much of a cook (barring some basic stuff like tea and maggi of course)... But nothing ventured, nothing gained! All it takes is a few handy recipes, all the special ingredients and spices you can lay your hands on, and of course good old-fashioned ingenuity. So light the gas, pick up those pans, arm your mixers and let's get to it...

Attempt #1: Chicken Biryani

It was one of those fine Sundays where all other ideas exhausted gave way to this crazy notion. It is not bad to sometimes taste the fruits of your own labour... Literally! First off, take some yogurt, salt, red chilli powder, biryani masala, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, cardamom powder, etc. and mix them well to make a paste, which is then used to marinate the chicken for at least 1.5 hrs. Easy-peasy! Then add rice and fried onions, chillies and extra masala in alternating layers on top of the marinated chicken and heat it in an air-tight utensil for 0.5 to 1 hr. And wallah! Your taste buds are ready to feel scintillated.

Attempt #2: Chicken Curry

Another Sunday, another experiment... Well, in this case, the steps remain similar till marination. Heat some oil with onions and chillies, and after it turns brownish, add some garam masala and haldi powder with a little water. Cook on a low flame till the oil begins to separate and add the marinated chicken. Cook for about 10 mins. and get ready for a mouth-watering bite of authentic Indian cuisine!

Attempt #3: ???

So what's next? What about kebabs? Or let's say something different... Taking some cues from YouTube recipes, how about replicating KFC in an Indianized way? Or maybe go a step further with Indo-Chinese cuisines? Well, until next time... 

A Weekend Getaway

Among all the humdrum, it feels good to take a day off and what's better than a weekend getaway to the holy city of Amritsar? Waking up at four in the morning itself sets the stage for a wicked day ahead. We started our journey and the road shined with the glory of the destination itself! So after some quick titbits at a tourist dhaba, we made our way to India's Golden City.

First up was obviously the one and only famous Golden Temple, considered to be the holiest place for all Sikhs. On our way there, we would have loved to take in the beauty of the city as well if we were not busy taking in all the dust and pollution generated by the bumper to bumper traffic which delayed us by more than an hour. But alas when we arrived, it was truly a sight to behold!

Over one lakh people visit this Gurudwara, founded in 1604 by Guru Arjan that was built at the centre of a holy tank, on a daily basis. After its construction, the Adi Granth was installed inside the temple, which is also home to the Akal Takht. After a moment or two of true inner peace (yeah! the thought of Kung Fu Panda makes me giggle too!), we partook the yummy Langar.

Moving on to the Jalianwala Bagh just adjacent to the Golden Temple, pretty much every Indian must have read or at least heard about the infamous massacre that took place here. With walls still adorned by bullet holes and the Martyr's Well still concealing the remains of those who plunged into it as a last resort, we tried to visualize the gravity of the events that unfolded here ages ago. It really sends a chill down your spine, cursing the ones responsible!

Our next and final stop before returning would be the Indo-Pak Wagha Border, another terrorist... oh! sorry... tourist destination for obvious reasons... hehe... Well, jokes apart, for those of you who haven't watched the associated videos on YouTube or elsewhere, do watch! For others, the grandeur of the few hours we spent there simply cannot be comprehended through a video, and a couple of pics would surely do no justice. It is not just about taking down the flags of the two countries at sunset, but making a statement each and every single evening. The flag marches, performances, display of strength and the immense patriotic vibe with the crowd jeering at the top of their voices really made quite the impression. All this followed by dinner (or should I say breakfast?) at one thirty in the morning before retracing our steps back to our abode, gave us the essential boost needed for the days to come!

The Deepening Incertitude

Just when you think you've begun to wrap your head around your qualms and have it all figured out, life shows you that you still have a ways to go. Assimilating no amount of knowhow is enough; there is always something which can still surprise or bother you! Nearly half a calendar year detached from having left Flipkart and beginning a career at IOCL, I seem to have more questions than answers...

The differences in the working philosophy of a public and a private sector are not just huge but insanely immense. It can't just be termed as a clichéd different ball game as it's the same as comparing something like cricket with boxing with no correlation whatsoever. The first thing that hits you right off the bat is the goal differentia; while privates are largely lucre oriented, PSUs are mostly all about responsibility to the masses, though profit does become a factor when it boils down to long term survival. This contributes to fuss-free working of privates where you can easily push your brain-child through if worthwhile; for example, drone inspection is carried out annually at Reliance but all such initiatives taken in IOCL thus far have failed simply due to the difficulty in obtaining security clearances!

Another glaring difference is the way new entrants into the firm are trained (or rather not trained). In a private org, it is solely up to the individual to get himself up to speed as one is handed direct responsibility to play a major hand in revenue generation of the firm from day one itself. It is very simple; if you deliver you are handsomely rewarded or else you get laid off. On the other hand, in a PSU, getting fired is as far from the rule books as anything can be. So the company shoulders a major chunk of the responsibility for getting the newbies trained.

One of the most important things in the private world is a practical approach meeting deadlines and being accountable for your own actions, while the public sector adopts a more theoretical approach where trainees are quizzed and tested day after day, month after month, although I do acknowledge its need in IOCL to some extent as human lives are at stake and margin for error is close to nil. The latter also incorporates quite a bit of unnecessary formalities like multiple daily meetings where the focus is to have an elaborate chit-chat session with snacks rather than a quick work briefing; periodic external audits too point out jobs that can be reviewed and acted upon internally itself. In privates, your deadline might force you to work after-hours thereby exploiting you to the fullest, while in PSUs you might need to stay back once in a while sometimes even without any real work, fruitlessly sacrificing life outside of your office, as an eyewash to portray the illusion of hard work, trying to elevate your image in your bosses' thankless eyes, call it either strategy or an extra time for fawning.

Few aspects may be common to both the public and private sectors viz. favouritism and politics, though more prevalent in the former many a times taking the shape of communal lobbying. Truth be told, people working in the private world hardly have the time to engage in such nonsensical bulls**t, not to mention that their days in a particular firm are usually numbered, which serves as an added incentive to focus on self rather than surroundings. Also, while delegation of work is quite uniform and very objective in the latter, it's totally subjective in the former, where few may get both the work and the limelight. Although this might be of little to no consequence as performance is not the only factor guiding growth in the public sector and getting you in the top 25% of that silly bell curve, that distinguishes between individuals who make equal contributions and someone ends up as the sacrificial lamb.

On a personal note, as I've had the opportunity of working in each of these starkly varied worlds, I'm still trying to find an optimum middle ground between certain avenues. For example, the one thing that I loved in Flipkart was the feeling of doing something new every single day no matter how small, but too much of that increases pressure and plays havoc with long term planning. My day-to-day work at IOCL although relatively routine and boring, provides me with an opportunity to refine my technical knowledge, not to mention giving me a daily natural workout too... haha... It lays down a clear itinerary of what is to be done to achieve success in the long run, whether in IOCL or elsewhere. PSUs, if nothing else, are a good place to learn and achieve expertise in your field of work. So I guess I'll just focus on self-development and profile-building until the next best opportunity comes along! 

The Anticipated Reunion



PADC, IOCL Panipat

The cogs keep working as the wheels keep turning, but a few out-of-the-ordinary experiences are the ones that add flavour to life and make it worth living. So whether it was the grand Republic Day jubilations here at Panipat or simply some birthday celebrations, the weeks leading up to the assemblage certainly set the stage for the reunion of our entire IOCL'15 batch in the second week of February.

Republic Day 2016!

Catching up with old friends, nothing seemed to have changed in the few months everyone was away! We explored new places like Murthal near Panipat, played the sports we engaged in at BGR and a lot more. Training is always an excellent pretext for quenching our social yearnings. Hehe, this journey of ours seems to have picked up pace... I wish we could have had reunions like this more often!

A Reunion of Sorts

Odds-on Terminus?

The good times at Panipat...

Ever wake-up in the morning and get that weird sensation? All the flurries subsided; I guess our innermost thoughts get a chance to float to the surface... Even stranger is the fact that our latest memories seem to take a backseat as we are flooded with obscure flashbacks we never realized we still possessed! Past antics and trivial barbs seem to take on a life of their own giving you an occasional smile or an odd frown. We might blissfully live parallel lives with our past chums and aspersers, not vexed in the least by their presence sometimes at our very doorstep!

But at the end of the day, I guess it is all part and parcel of settling down at a new place. It has been nearly a month since most of my colleagues and I left Bongaigaon and the allures of the North-East, to report to our respective postings, mine being at Panipat. The ride continues, though just a little differently! But this time it might be for the long haul... Whatever the case may be, I guess it is all about finding and fulfilling a sense of purpose by bringing our various aspirations to fruition.

As for me, whether it is something professional like suggesting some updates to the softwares being used or watching some important official documents getting published in my name, or something personal like gifting a ring to my granny, I think I've started driving down the right path. No matter what the field, I believe each one of us can play a contributory role in our own capacity, leaving a permanent imprint on the business in the long run.

On the fun side, I'm glad that seven of us have been posted together at Panipat which makes the weekends all the more convivial. Shopping, movies and most importantly getting a chance to welcome the new year together was marvellous! I hope this adventure continues in the right spirit, the only question being is this the odds-on terminus or are greener pastures just waiting to be probed? Let's find out!

Welcome 2016!

Metastasis

My 24th Birthday Bash at Champa Officers' Club

As the time to bid adieu to the past two inconceivable months draws closer, I guess it is that instance where all your memories converge to a point, that can be reflected upon. Yeah! It may finally be time to say goodbye to Bongaigaon...

All the tied-up workdays and the desultory Sundays, the daily games and the weekend trips, all the praises and the taunts, everything is about to become a page in our mental ensemble. As my colleagues and I finally receive our official postings and get ready to part ways, I'm glad I was able to squeeze out as much as possible from these past few fortnights.

Farewell BGR...

Our trip to Shillong and the magical town of Cherrapunji proved to be especially worth it. The Mausmai Caves, Elephant and Nohkalikai Falls, Shillong Peak, Barapani Lake and the entire journey through the winding mountain roads was breath-taking to say the least. Dining at our favorite eateries at Guwahati was an added bonus.

But, alas every phase must come to an end at some point. With my twenty-fourth birthday bash along with two other colleagues forming the final chapter in these two sublime months, I hope things get even better from here on out, as we gradually adapt ourselves to IOCL, nevertheless retaining our appetite for out-of-the-box ideas and fresh ventures. To sum it all up, I think a famous quote from Steve Jobs would be appropo:-

"Stay hungry! Stay foolish!"

Trip to Shillong & Cherrapunji

The Hue of the North-East

Whether it is the lush green mountains, or the draw of the wilderness, there is hardly any place in India as ripe with natural beauty as the North-East. Although many of my colleagues and I have been sent on a two-month divisional training module to the Bongaigaon refinery of IOCL, that is probably the last thing on our minds right now. With the enchanting presence of the Kaziranga wildlife reserve and the Manas sanctuary, barely a few hours' drive from our township, we can't wait to experience this haven of tranquility!

But we decided to start out small and planned a one day trip to the nearby city of Guwahati. First up was the Kamakhya temple, one of the oldest of the fifty-one Shakti Pithas... With all its history and the splendid scenary surrounding us, it was truly an elucidating experience! The trek to the top of the hill where the temple is situated brought back tonnes of childhood memories.

Next on our list was Umananda, a Shiva temple located at the Peacock Island in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra. This place also holds the crown of being the smallest inhabited riverine island in the world. And the fact that it can be accessed only by boats only increases its charm and mystique. The langoors sitting on the railings eating chips and pretty much everything they can swipe from unsuspecting tourists also form a sight to behold.

Capping the day off with some hefty winter shopping at GS Road with a wide variety of eateries to fulfill our taste buds, this was probably one of the most memorable days in our young careers. But our coltish nature never rests, does it? About a week down the line and it is Diwali already! The organization's huge pre-Diwali bash has been a total success. With fireworks and DJs, it was the perfect welcome for all the fresh minds that have joined the firm this year. With aspirations running high, I hope everyone achieves all their hearts' dreams and ambitions!

The Transit Ends

Out go the jeans, t-shirts and the hunky-dory lifestyle of the private sector, and in come the formals, ties and discipline of a PSU. Yeah! The transition from Flipkart Internet Private Ltd. to Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. has indeed been quite drastic and the difference palpable. But nonetheless, whether it is long term considerations or simply personal preferences, wherever we are today, we are by choice and it is wrong to jump to conclusions by judging a book just by its cover.

Each of us has a unique story to tell, but alas I'm not here to dwell on that. It is bewildering to imagine just how much our horizons can expand from nothing but a few months' experience! Moving from Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, to the Indian Oil Institute of Petroleum Management at Gurgaon, the journey has surely been an incredibly interesting one.

The sheer number of people I've encountered along the way, combined with a variety of cultures has helped me attach meaning to numerous adages, for example, 'dream as if you'll live forever but live as if you'll die tomorrow', 'small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events but great minds discuss ideas' and so the list goes on. Unless you spend a finite amount of time with someone you can't guess their story just by knowing their names. Likewise you can hear what someone's done but not what he or she has been through.

The first few days of our induction programme at IiPM had been outsourced to People Metrics, where we danced to Gangnam Style, participated in skits, made impromptu presentations and a lot more. As the first week of our orientation comes to an end with a lot planned for the week ahead, many of my colleagues are left with very little time to attend our college convocation or make plans for the festive seasons of Dussehra and Diwali. So I suppose it is best to just live in the moment in a 'convince or get convinced' way. For now, all I can say is that the metamorphosis from a student to a full-fledged professional for most of us is finally complete.

Indian Oil Induction at IiPM

Being A Flipster!

Didn't expect to be back on the blogosphere so soon, but I just couldn't hold myself back from writing about this out-of-the-world place that I'm honored to have become a part of. Yup! Its Flipkart... It intrigues you more and more as each day passes, with conference rooms filled with beanbags instead of round-tables, the gym and cafeteria taking up more space than the actual workplace itself, flip-out Fridays held every fortnight and the only dress code being 'big smiles and the Flipster spirit'.

Just a week since I joined and it already boggles the mind. The first two days were mostly fun and games, not to mention the 24x7 coffee, yummy snacks and luncheon we were being served everyday. It didn't take us long to get to know our colleagues, whose equally high intellect but varied backgrounds never seize to amaze. The next couple of days however introduced us to the real deal at Flipkart, where we were blasted by a concentrated dose of information regarding fulfillment centers, mother hubs, delivery hubs, etc.

We were shortly addressed by the directors and vice-presidents of all the business units including business finance, supply chain management (SCM), commerce platform (CP), analytics, marketing among a wide assortment of many others, about which we are just beginning to wrap our heads around. The place is ripe with news of Flipkart going 'app. only' in a few months time, as it grows exponentially making the rapid transition from an exploding startup to a massive stable e-commerce big shot, which is already changing the way India shops and is maybe also on the brink of casting a worldwide shadow, while remaining young at heart.

As the excitement of the first week here, staying at IBIS and working out of the ultra-modern Cessna Tech Park, begins to sink in, thoughts of the days to come begin to emerge. Although its difficult to predict how things are going to shape up in a few months time, both internally and externally, as I anxiously await the final interview results of IOCL, it is more important to thoroughly enjoy the here and now! Irrespective of what the future holds, this is one experience I'm glad not to have missed out on. Cheers to Flipkart and my entire Graduate Trainee batch!

The Flipster Life

A Different Perspective

Having just a few days left before jumping on to the professional bandwagon makes one wonder as to exactly what kind of attitude will propel one forward the fastest and in the most gratifying way possible. But having already been through the Sturm und Drang of college life, I can't really say that I've nothing to go on.

The first key point I think would be to learn to use whatever we have to its maximum potential rather than crib about stuff we don't possess. Most folks are in the suicidal habit of beating themselves up regarding lost opportunities, under-utilized chances and even more ridiculous, things we have no control over! I'd say a 'no regret' policy needs to be adapted where everyone makes the most of the situation presented and then goes on his own merry way.

Secondly, I've seen people using two very different approaches when faced with a challenge to be conquered. One incorporates the 'thoughtless state of mind' widely preached and much popular among the scholarly types, while the other has everything to do with 'killer instinct' more akin to sports-persons. I'd like to draw a parallel between the two optimized for contention and call it 'cold intent', where a happy composed face masks a glacial design.

Thirdly, I think one should start with a clean slate when beginning a fresh endeavor. The triumphs or follies from the past shouldn't filter through to the present, thus preventing either complacency or guilt from needlessly building up within one's psyche, thereby allowing one to operate at maximum efficiency. Only by getting thrown into the deep end with ruthless sharks does one learn to swim and survive!

Lastly but most importantly, only two outcomes are possible when someone is confronted by an obstacle... You either crumble or you evolve! To each his own, but as for me, I'll always choose the latter, as success is a reward in itself and as important to me as the air we breathe in. Life has taken a busy turn and I'm sure it will be quite a while before I visit this blog again, so until then good luck to all the would-be professionals out there and of course anyone who has spent a couple of minutes to glance through this article, portraying a precious piece of my mind.

The Inner Sanctum

Only one month removed from leaving IIT-BHU and it already feels like ages! I'm sure a lot of young graduates fresh out of college are going through a similar phase, where emptiness sets in all of a sudden for apparently no reason among a storm of brewing emotions, many a times difficult to interpret. Five years seem to have gone by in a jiffy and yet when you leisurely think back they seem more like five decades!

It is a weird sensation especially for me as never before have I been mentally attached to a certain place to this extent, but considering just how much it has changed me, I guess IIT-BHU is an exception from all angles! It is like pieces of your soul being stretched out from behind as you try to move on, somewhat like the ice and dust trail left behind by a comet due to gravity, or puddles of water left behind by a retreating tide...

The leap from an educational to a purely professional life has created a strange new buffer zone, where you are excited by the prospects of the times to come and yet wonder if a bit more zing could have been extracted from the years gone by. Many new college entrants dream of a filmy joy ride when they first get enrolled, but little had I imagined that my life would take so many unexpected and wild turns at every stage as it did!

Life in an IIT might not exactly concur with its portrayal in movies, but there are quite a few similarities. Some things keep getting better and better, while others reach their peak and then slowly fizzle out at the end... I should say my buddies and I have had an immensely fulfilling and successful personal, academic and extra-curricular journey through college, so much so that I am willing to stick my neck out and confess how unlikely it is that these five years will ever be replicated again!

But, in any case, a closure needs to be obtained at some point. It is sad to think that some of the best friends you have ever made have already gone their separate ways. Fortunately for me, all my experiences have been forever preserved in this very blog, to be relived at any time via the extensive and sometimes abstract articles, thereby creating an inner sanctum of solace and strength. An era has culminated, a new one waiting in the not-so-distant horizon... So I guess there is nothing else left to be done other than planting our feet firmly in the present and looking only at the future!

 

Abstraction

Well, what is abstraction? Put simply, I'd say it is looking at only the important details of something to keep the overall picture in mind and make decision making easier and quicker. But what many of us fail to realize is that we use abstraction in our daily lives more often than we think! Technically speaking if we try to dig deep into the trivialities of every insignificant matter, there would be no end to asking why... And while looking for reason is good, once the truth or a course of action has been established, it shouldn't be dwelled upon time and again. In other words, once the logic behind something is figured out, we should act instinctively whenever a similar situation crops up, as the luxury of time might not always be on our side!

But when we do look into the minutia of an issue for the first time, we are faced with the paradox of 'right and wrong', the two sides of the same coin... Right and wrong are highly subjective and relative terms, meaning what might be right for you, may be wrong for me and vice-versa! Instead I think one's logic must be based on one's goals and what one deserves, which form a much more absolute basis for judgement.

Now, if you need an example of abstraction, I'll probably be able to furnish an experience that I'm sure is very familiar to us all. Consider the case where someone provokes you, let's say by insulting your family without grievance... What is your first reaction? Do you lose your temper and come out swinging? What incites such a dramatic response? Is it love? Well it might as well be, but love is just an abstraction for the noesis that if we simply ignore any such act or comment, it would display a rather doormat-like attitude, thereby increasing the chances of something more severe but along the same lines happening again. So it is all about making a statement! This is what emotions like revenge are borne out of... I guess we can say that love is a chemical process that helps us make the appropriate choices at a moment's notice, without which life would become totally mechanical, boring, laborious, and quite frankly a drag. 

So you see abstraction is much more than just a concept with a textbook definition. All of us live and breathe abstraction at every single step, and I believe that this has partially helped disprove the well known saying 'think before you leap'! This also finds an unlikely ally in Darwin's theory of evolution! The philosophy of 'survival of the fittest' has laid down a lot of pre-programmed rules deep within our psyche for our own benefit. Do we think before we taste our favorite victuals? No, we don't! Doing things spontaneously or using abstraction, makes our lives a lot easier, so that we reserve a greater fraction of our thinking capacity for concerns that actually demand greater cognition. All this makes the key role of abstraction in our lives plainly visible, so much so that I'd dare to say that without abstraction we would all be zombies fumbling in the dark!

Self Ridicule!

I must say that I thought twice before writing this article, because in it I'll be delving into one of the most sensitive and highly debated topics in modern day India i.e. the caste system. Come to think of it, the word 'modern' doesn't really match up to the term 'caste', right? In today's individualistic choice-driven world, doesn't a hereditary social structure mean almost nothing? I guess to wrap our heads around this issue, we must first peer back into the past...

Looking way back to the pre-independence period, the people of India were divided into different classes according to their various professions. As a result, those that were more highly valued received better pay and occupied the highest rung of the social ladder. This resulted in a strict hierarchy of classes starting with the Brahmins (priests), followed by the Kshatriyas (warriors) and the Kayasthas (business men), and then by the Shudras (workers or servants). In due course of time, this distinction combined with baseless superstitions and social stigma gave rise to a vicious cycle of injustice and grief!

Hence, after India gained independence, the government tried to rectify the situation by giving folks hailing from the so-called lower strata benefits in every walk of life, to uphold the principle of equality. Fast forward to India today and surprisingly not much has changed since then. Although measures like reservations, etc. balanced out the scales back in the day, such practices have become totally illogical in current times. The tables have been turned and now many of the poverty stricken families of the 1950's are much better off than the average Indian household, and don't need any special arrays for survival. The absence of a time limit on both the medieval policies of the government and the caste system as a whole has resulted in mass unfairness and open lies.

We see it happening every day... A deserving candidate's seat in a premier educational institution snatched away by someone who had it easy and might not contribute as much to the society in the long run, government Global Fortune 500 companies half-filled with a cesspool of ingrates retarding the work efficiency created by hard working people with a vision. I'm not trying to sound biased here... All I'm trying to say is that whatever an individual accomplishes in his or her life, may it be personal or professional, is the individual's responsibility, irrespective of his or her background. If help does need to be provided it should only be in the form of financial aid and only on the basis of current economic circumstances and not some ancient mambo-jumbo!

India is the only country where such a self-ridiculing social structure still exists and that too backed by the equally laughable primitive ideas of the state! No one knows when sanity will prevail, but quite frankly that might be a long way off considering that vote-bank politics and other such nonsense dominates decision making and overshadows development these days. Let's see if the newly elected Modi government is any different from the outgoing one...