From the Steel City – We say it happens in India…but only at NIT Rourkela

If you speak to the alumni of any of the NITs in India, (erstwhile RECs), they can talk to you about the ragging that happened in their college for hours together!! Not because they hated it and found it lousy to make the first year who are just out of their schools party to all that constituted ragging, but because they just enjoyed every bit of it and this can be measured from the fact that even after more than 15-20 years in other cases even more, they still remember their so called ragging period!! That was the beauty of those days that every incident, every moment deserves mention nth number of times.

From the hostel, it was about half a km walk to the college and as per ragging funda, all first year had to walk in a single queue to the college (Funda # 8) and no one has to lead the queue (Funda # 9). Just about the time to leave the hostel before we get late for the class and everyone is waiting for someone to lead the queue. Suddenly, we could see a queue building up and to tell you the one who is standing at the front isn’t aware that a queue has starting building just behind him!! J Oh man!! That was indeed some fun!! And by the time, he is aware of the plot, he is pushed to walk and kick off!! But he was a smart chap too, he would walk a bit and then suddenly change path to quickly move backwards, unleashing the guy behind him to the fury of the seniors!!  Imagine all this happening daily and we would either end up getting late for the class or no go at all.

Come on, it didn’t end here. One fine morning a gentle soul ;) decides to start the procession, seeing around that there was no senior in the vicinity and he started off and behind him all of us. Suddenly a second year senior appears from nowhere; he quietly gets down from his bicycle and shoots a question to the guy leading the pack – “Kyon be (bahen ke bhai!! ;)), Hero hai tu? Lead karega…kahan se hai…state bol jaldi se…” And we all thought in a same vein, “Aaj to gaya yeh”. Before he could utter a word, a few other seniors join in. What a pity, 4 seniors taking on a first year that too just before the start of the day. And the other seniors shouted kyon be (maa ke dulaar!! ;)) tu to sahi mein hero hai!! Tujhe to main kai din se dekh raha hoon!! And they took him aside, leaving the rest of us to run to the college!! God knows what would have happened to him that day!!

Its 12 noon and time to go back to the hostel for lunch. Some of us would think, not to go back as that would save us from the senior fury at least twice in the day!! So helpless we were then, that all our thoughts and actions would depend on only one word – seniors and how to evade them. Again the same old story, who would lead and how to go back, but still somehow we used to manage each day J Out in the open, we would all be “third button” and not looking up, rushing in a queue. And all our efforts would daily go in vain, as if seniors would be waiting for us to come out!! (In fact this was the truth and I have no rights to complain, as we waited like this when had our chances ;))

A senior caught us and we were left asking ;). Quickly he would ask us their pet questions – “Naam bol” and I started “Sir, May I have the Golden opportunity…” (Funda # 4) He said “haan…haan…saari opportunities hain tujhe…bolna start kar…” I started yet again “mera naam Uphar Gandhi hai…main Uttar Pradesh ke Meerut zila ka niwasi hoon” (Funda # 10 – to always say your name in full and then your domicile state and then your home town ;) and Funda # 11 – to always tell all this in pure Hindi). Was I terrified? Yes, I was!! And then he asked “Apne baap ka naam bata”…I replied “Mr. Hare Kishan Singh”…”Oh Hare ka beta hai tu…sahi!” (as if that was an achievement). Don’t think otherwise, this was another ragging funda. Funda # 12 – The immediate senior from your state and from your branch was your techno father, but in regular lingo “tumhaara baap” ;) and if that person happens to be a girl, then “techno mother” or “tumhaari maa” ;) He then asked me certain other questions, which are better not described here ;) and finally he left, asking me to walk in circles ;) Yes, walk in circles with my head down (third button) and who knew that I was actually walking around a cow that was looking at me so angrily that I had to run (only when someone prompted me to run, otherwise, how would I ever know). I ran towards my hostel as if I was running a 100 mt dash!!

Tales from SPJCM – A New Year eve to remember

Man!! If you ask any maygcian (what we call our SPJ batch!!) about the New Year eve at Siloso Beach, Singapore, each one will remember that day still and I guess some of us will remember it for the whole of our lives!!

Oh, a whole lot of questions would be running across your minds by now and you would be thinking what was so special that people would remember a New Year eve the whole of their lives? New Year comes each year and we celebrate it each year too!! So what was so special about it?

Well, I would say, to know truth about anything has only 1 way to it – experience it yourself!! But I would add to it – or hear it directly from the horse’s mouth, because after reading through the lines below, you would be glad that you didn’t experience it, for sure!! And you came to know of it from someone, so who better than the one of the horse! ;)

Siloso Beach Party – a complete freak out place with 8-10 different party zones and some 100K people from across the world all flocked together to bring in the New Year!! Imagine, you dancing the whole night with some girls or may be boys (depending on your choice, ofc!!) who would be all making merry and dancing like never before!! Rain dance, foam dance were the main attractions with all water and foam all around!! Yes man, it was the place to be in Singapore with complete insanity surrounding us.

Girls and Boys were wearing clothes alike and girls were especially dressed like eye candies!! ;) Oh come on, don’t spoil the mood; we were at the beach, as if we were to dive straight into the sea!! With all booze and dancing and fun and frolic, the party was definitely on and we all went with the flow.

2-3 hours into the place and having brought in the New Year 2009 over 41 mins back, I and one of good friends were planning to go again to the foam dance as we had maximum fun there. We were just moving towards the foam dance arena and a guy and a girl came rushing towards us, with the guy shouting “You…you come here…you touched my girl’s butt!!...” He was coming towards us, I said “Me?? No!!” He said, “No not you!!... (a sigh of relief!! but to my horror…he pointed towards my friend beside me) him” and he continued like this. My friend said No Sir!! I didn’t…but he would not listen…we continued saying the same and then the girl said “I know…it was you…why did you do that” We again said…no he didn’t, but to no avail.

Having seen the whole argument continuing for about 10-15 mins now, some of our friends came rushing in, to help us out!! They understood the problem at hand quickly and tried to placate him and convince him that it was not our friend who did it, it must be somebody else and by mistaken she has taken it to be him. Even this continued for another 10-15 mins but both of them would not budge at all.

Suddenly some guards at the location came and asked us what was the matter and having known the matter, they simply asked us to move to the local police station and the officer would handle it now!! WTF!! Why police?? We should handle it here only and close it!! Not that we didn’t try that desperately but these guards would not agree as the guy and the girl were not ready to listen to us.

And we had to move towards the police station, knowing pretty well that a girl complaining meant that our friend was in deep trouble and it could mean anything!! We still tried to convince the guy and the girl that it was not him and please not to take this to the police. But God knows, what was going in their mind, they didn’t agree and we were straight at the Police Station.

Imagine what a welcome to the New Year for us!! At 1:10 AM on January 1, 2009 instead of enjoying like many others around us were, we were standing at the front of the police station, with our dear friend already taken inside and locked in a room!! The police said, as the local officer was not there, all have to wait for him to come.

By now, everyone in our batch had known that this has happened and our friend is caught now and even if a few didn’t know the whole story, they knew something had happened to our friend!! (See how quickly a story would spread in the hostel crowd and that too in the era of 3G and Social Media!!) Girls from our batch came running in to support their “kanhaiya” but even that would not work!! We even tried to speak to a local doctor there who was an Indian (played the distressed Indian(s) in a phoren land card to the fore) and get him run some magic wand to impress upon the police!! But I guess, it was one of those days, when no trick would work!! Half of the batch had gathered outside and around the police station and we were like waiting for our friend to come out and say something good!!

Already more than 2 hours had passed by now!! Our friend was still inside and locked, no one knew what was transpiring inside and that was keeping our anxiety levels high!! With each passing minute, we would pray that nothing happens to him and he comes out easily!! And he came out…rushed quickly towards me, asked me to come out and we spoke for a few seconds and we left the scene and the party arena after a few mins.

Now, you all would be curious to know, (at least who are reading this for the first time and who didn’t know happened inside) how did our friend came out and what exactly happened. Well, to cut the whole story short (that it has gone too long by now), the girl withdrew the complaint against our friend!! But only after having tried her own bit inside the police room where she asked my friend to accept that he did it and finally when she couldn’t win with her self made story, she said, okay…look into my eyes and say that you didn’t do it…and my friend gleefully obliged. Then she took another turn – said you will have to carry this burden the whole of your life, please accept it. And when my friend said the truth that he didn’t do it, she finally obliged and withdrew the complaint!! After all this drama, I and my friend were so pissed off and in no mood to stay there and we left the place!!

OMG!! This incident is and will be etched into my memory forever and I can never forget what happened and how I felt!! Our friend, who had to take all this upon him, had definitely been a strong man mentally and emotionally that he could bear everything for such a long time!! Finally, the truth prevailed!!

Tales from SPJCM – revelry at Clarke Quay

Most of our batch mates said Singapore was different. We all were scattered in our groups, and it’s difficult to do anything (read booze) in the sanctity of our rooms. But the answer to each of these concerns was quickly found and accepted by us – Clarke Quay (CQ).

We had landed in Singapore and almost a month had passed, and today was a Saturday. The day when our weekly special to Clarke Quay (CQ) would start around 9 30, 10 in the evening and more than half of the batch would be found there!! Yes, we religiously followed the routine.

CQ was the place to be. With its riverside open areas, a bridge where people would sit on the parapet top and booze and smoke, enjoy till the last drop and then head towards many of the discos and pubs located there. There was no restriction, as we would carry our own stuff and sit back and enjoy. For most of us, it was real fun, as it would give a chance to get together at a place where there was no one to put a check on us and we could easily let our hair down, go with the flow of our booze and enjoy in the real sense of the word. The mood there was at best summed up by the famous Dev Anand song “main fikra ko dhooyein mein udata chala gaya…”

CQ housed many famous and “mast” discs and pubs – Attica, Zirca, Rupee Room and many more. And how can we forget China One, as it was our refuge, on most of the occasions, for it didn’t charge any entry fee, while the rest would. We would head to China One, and dance to the tunes of the DJ there. Some lovely dance numbers, and if we are lucky, we might get a chance to dance to a Punjabi or a Bollywood number there. If some of us were lucky some day, they could get English or an American partner to dance too!! So wasn’t Singapore or for that matter CQ different?? :)

After boozing, smoking and dancing the whole night at CQ, we would head home at around 4-5 in the morning or at times, even late!! The revelry at CQ was the time to remember!! Such are the charms of CQ that most of us still yearn to relive those days!!

From the steel city – The first taste of notorious ragging

The second day, we quickly got the admission formalities done and got ourselves a room allotted in the hostel. As we got our hostel formalities done, it was already the lunch time and we could see our batch mates all looking down and wearing formal attire with a tie. We could feel the fear around!!

One of the seniors, who took us to our hostel attendant to get a room for us, took us towards some fellow guys from UP, who had already joined a few days back. The senior started “See, here are your new brothers…they are in room 4 and 5…meet them and give them all the ragging fundae…we will come in the evening to check…” (Ragging Funda # 1: Always call all your fellow batch mates from your state as your brothers & Funda #2: old ones would pass on the ragging fundae to he newer ones, as and when they come). All of them, looked at “3rd button” (Funda # 3: to look at the third button of your shirt while taking to a senior) and as they were about to speak, took permission to speak (Funda # 4) and he started,
First year batch mate (FYBM) – Sir, May I have the Golden opportunity to talk…
2nd year senior (SYS) – No
FYBM – Sir, may I have the diamond opportunity to talk…
SYS – No
FYBM – Sir, may I have the platinum opportunity to talk…
SYS – No
FYBM – Sir, may I have the lifetime opportunity to talk…
SYS – No
Oh man, this continued at least 2-3 times till he obliged and by that time we had gotten scared of what was happening. At one hand, I felt disgust at the thought that even I would have to do all this nonsense from now on, but at the other hand, we laughed at ourselves and our batch mates. But man, our seniors did it, we did it and as did our juniors!!

After all the formalities in the hostel, I was allotted room # 4, on the ground floor and even mathura and buddha were allotted the same room. But my seniors, requested the attendant to allocate some other room, may be some room in the back gallery, but he said no, saying, there were none available there. Then, the seniors told us to take care in these rooms as these rooms are prone to senior wrath due to being near the front gallery and being at the ground floor. We got even more scared!!

We had slept by now – our very first day in the hostel and in the middle of our sleep came some sound as if somebody is banging our door. Having gathered our courage, we quickly understood that it was some senior banging windows for us to open, but since we didn’t respond (this was against the ragging funde though!!), he gleefully did it against room 5 and after a few minutes the noise vanished, we thought that even room 5 folks didn’t respond to this and the seniors had gone away and smilingly dozed off.

Suddenly, after 5-10 minutes, we could hear someone banging against our door, with gathered courage, we tried to get up and the voice said “Open the door…I am Maneesh…” and we opened the door…knowing that we were some what safe!! Then he continued…come quickly…seniors have come and they are calling all UP guys…and mathura said “they have to come only in the middle of the night and *beep*, *beep*, *beep*” and we quickly got into our formal attire, wore the tie and the third button mark and ran towards room # 10, where the seniors were waiting for us!! And one of us uttered “Imagine…the goat is itself going towards the butcher!!” :)

Reaching room 10, we were called towards the window, one by one, and were asked to introduce ourselves. My chance came…and I started “Sir, May I have the golden opportunity to say my name…and he replied…Yes…(ah!! Lucky me, hit it in a single opportunity!!). My name is Uphar Gandhi from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (There is nothing called as UP, always give full name of the state, ragging funda # 5). The senior said “okay…then what to do…” Hearing this…I felt like…what what to do…nothing…go off to sleep and let us sleep too!! But before, I could utter anything…the other senior asked me to come closer to him (and I knew, what was it, as I had already seen the scene many times, by the time my chance had come) and after I came closer…I couldn’t hear anything for a few moments as something has hit me hard…and again. Then the seniors said “okay now go away”…as if they had just called me to slap us!!

I swear, that was the only part of ragging that none of us liked ever, but on a different note, I believe that had it not been the fright of slaps (the number of slaps was called your “score” and whenever a senior would ask you your slap, your answer has to be “zero”, funda # 6 & 7), we would never have taken it seriously and would have missed the real fun of ragging!! I am very proud and happy to admit that by the time I was ragging free, my score was 32 and this ragging only made me friends with the huge NIT group that we have now!! We shared all our agony, pain, ecstasy and happiness during those times, still share them today and would do so in future!!

From the steel city – as I entered the gates of NIT Rourkela

Having secured a position in one of the top engineering institutes in the country, I was feeling happy and proud to be amongst the few who are able to get there. However, who knew what awaited us, in the quaint and little steel city of Eastern India – Rourkela.

Having already met Nishant (keli:)) and Anand (Dwivedi) during my counselling at Lucknow, I knew a few people before I reached Rourkela. On board the famed Kalinga Utkala Express on September 28, 2001, I and my dad headed towards our destination. At Jhansi, we suddenly hear some noise in the nearby seat. As the chat became clearer and loud, we came to know that these 2 people were headed to Rourkela too. And we knew that the father is accompanying his son to NIT Rourkela as my dad was and we started off. After exchanging those usual pleasantries, we shared our identities and I came to know that I have a new friend Abhishek Sharma (Mathura) from Mathura joining me and a lot others at NIT Rourkela. Mathura, as he affectionately came to be known in the college, seemed a docile and a shy guy and I guess, his initial reading of me would be the same, though, I was not that shy, as he seemed :)

Well, we reached Rourkela in the evening and were quickly taken to a nearby hotel by an auto rickshaw guy. I still remember, the whole night, I couldn't sleep properly as the thoughts of stepping into a whole new world ran in my mind. After getting up the next morning, we hired an auto rickshaw to reach the college. We had just reached the gates of the administration office, and a few senior students welcomed us there, checking whether we were from UP or not? As we said, we were, they readily greeted us and our fathers and told us that as the college was closed today, we could be admitted only tomorrow and hence we should go towards the hostel, where all the arrangements for our stay were made!! We were quite surprised at the hospitality and the warmth shown by the seniors and promptly agreed to go along them, little knowing the fact that we were headed into a soup!!

We reached the Hall 3 (the hostel for second year boys) and were taken to room no 32 where another 6-7 second year seniors were waiting for us with a few first year students like us. Quickly we introduced ourselves and then again they made us and our parents very comfortable and requested them to excuse us as they would take us around and show the campus. And we knew we were heading towards something. The only pleasing factor was that we were 5 of us together and beamed in that fact!!

The second year seniors didn’t spare minutes to give us the fundas of college. The so called “ragging ke funde”!! Did I love it? I must admit, at first thought, they sounded too harsh and strict, but believe me, to our astonishment, anyone who had gone through all that, had loved it always and cherished those days the whole of his life!!

We were then as a tradition, taken to the hostel of the final year students. That, I must say was a jolly good time, even though, some of the acts were really funny and embarrassing. Those were the acts, which we still laugh at, when we sit together. How can one forget the way Mathura picked up the pen, Sandeep (Aala boy) talked and I, Amit Verma (Verma) and Rohit (buddha) were asked certain embarrassing but yet funny questions. I swear, each one of us still remember them!!

Tests need mavericks and their charisma

With the widespread demand and supply of T20 and ODI games in cricket, Tests face the fear of getting defunct, if not by the day, but definitely by the years. And IPL, Champions League and the barrage of media and financial coverage offered by the business houses and the associate name and fame hasn't helped the cause either!!

The increasing affinity of the audiences, business houses and sponsors towards the fast paced T20 format of the game has even led to ICC toying with the idea of 3 – 4 day Tests instead of a regular 5 day affair!! But I think, to stall the dwindling spectator interest and in fact to increase it to make it more interesting (if I am allowed to call so) and result oriented, an effort is required from both the administrators (to bring in changes like the UDRS) and the players (to show an intent to take games towards eventual results). In this regard, I would like to quote the Australians, who over the years, have fought hard and always looked for results, to the effect that they even look to declare their innings midway of the 3rd session of the 4th day of a test to affect a result!! An approach like this is what will make Tests more interesting, and not something where teams would bat through to safety and then call the opposition in again. Cricketing reforms like the UDRS is again very good, because it brings in technology to improve the quality of games and eventual results.

I think, ICC can even limit the amount of money a player can make from sponsorships and other games outside the ambit of International Cricketing calendar. I know, this type of regulation would ignite worldwide criticism especially from players and from the boards too, because that would restrict the money they can make outside of cricket. Even regulating the laying of pitches at the Test centers in all the Test playing nations shouldn't be tough either, considering the limited number of tests played across the world in a year. I strongly believe maintaining a consistent approach across for the pitches should encourage results, more often. Similarly, more such changes and reforms could inspire the spectators and bring more interest to Tests.

Apart from this, I believe that there are players like Virender Sehwag have the potential to attract new genre of spectator interest in the Tests. He has played some true blinders over the past few years and already 2 such innings in the just concluded Test series between India and Sri Lanka. He has been called a maverick, entertainer, destroyer, but they still fail to capture his true essence. He has affected the results more often than none, and who would not, having a strike rate of more than 80 in Tests when compared to the best in the business having anywhere between 50-60. He sets the game for his team and leaves and onus on the rest to take it to completion. And in most of the matches, where he has fired on all cylinders, which he usually does, India has won the match!!

All in all, I believe, instead of playing only a few number of tests or decreasing their duration by a day or two, ICC should think of bringing in cricketing reforms to add more zing and make tests more result oriented. Tests are not only the test of your cricketing skills, but also your mental and endurance skills. Believe me, encouraging results or at least a fight by initiating some thoughtfully crafted changes should do the job!! Till then, we should hail players like Virender Sehwag and Steve Waugh who have made results possible by their entertaining and forward looking tricks.

Corporate Valuation led to negative EV!!

After having successfully completed the Dubai marathon of Gimba…our folks quite eagerly, like the curiosity of a 10 year old reached Singapore. Quickly, we got through the immigration at the airport and out we were, to have a first look at one of the Asian Tiger economies!! Sitting in the college van to reach the hostel, we all gazed through the windows to leaning towers all around the city state and its gleaming highways network. One thing that struck to everyone who came to Singapore for the time, including me, was the greenery around (I am talking about the green trees and gardens all around the city)!! Some of us were so enamoured at the greenery that they even declared that post MBA, we would look to work in Singapore only!! No one knew what was in stored for us in 2009.

Upon reaching the hostel, we quickly got our respective rooms and then moved in to relax a little as our dry eyes needed some rest after a round of ornithology (bird watching) in the greens!!;) Having rested for a few hours, we all got together to head towards the most famous Indian location. They say, all the Indians, even before coming to Singapore, know about this place, its location and how to reach it from different parts of the city!! The same thing happened to us, our very own globetrotters took us to Mustafa Center and Little India  Few hours well spent in the midst of the “desi” Singaporeans, we rushed to the hostel, as we had to get ready for the next day, as the classes start!!

The next day, we quite eagerly reached the classrooms, expecting something great to happen – we were starting one of the most interesting subjects in Finance – Corporate Valuation. And as luck would have it, it did become one of the most interesting subjects ever!! The professor was always ready to teach in his own inimitable manner, always ready to self praise himself at the drop of the hat!! It grew to a level that students started to have quarrels with him and one incident take an ugly turn that the professor got it right on his face and he eventually gotten so angry that he left the class in between the lecture!! OMG, the whole class is stunned!! Complete silence!!

Quickly, some students went to the batch co-ordinator to discuss the issue and let the college authorities know of what was going on in the class and how the student felt of him. Though this did go in our favour, in the sense, that no disciplinary action was taken against any one of us!! The professor came back to the class, the next day, teaching us more disinterestedly and yet again giving us that gyaan about “I can earn millions, if I get into a job with an investment house…” Oh man, cut the crap!! And get over this!! The subject got over, we shouted a lot with the college authorities to help us with this subject and assign a new teacher so that the subject can be covered again!! Nothing ever happened, though we had some “refresher” sessions on the topic!! But, in the whole game, we lost ground in the most important and interesting subjects in finance!! Some of us, lost so much, that we shouted “after learning Corp Val from him, for every company I value, EV comes negative!! (courtesy all the wrongs things and ways thought to us ;))