Photobucket had recently changed their policy and now all the images from my 650+ blog posts are disabled. I am slowly editing them by moving my images to my own server at AWS, but it will take time. In case there is a particular old post you want to see the images of, kindly drop me a mail at mizohican@gmail.com and I'll keep that at a high priority. Thank you.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Chp 43. Relative Grading!

In the Beginning, God created land, water, the sun, the moon and animals n birds. And then he created man and woman. Just one man and one woman. That itself was Paradise for the man, for he had no competition to worry about. Hence he need not leave the toilet seat down, nor did he have to ask for directions in that little garden. Similarly, the woman was happy, for she need not shave her legs nor make chapattis for her man.

Everything was going great until one fine day, the woman gave into temptation (just wondering why all the “other” things they must have done is also not termed as temptations). Anyway, God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and made their life utterly miserable. He thought of the worst possible way to make them suffer: He thought of floods, he thought of fire rain. Until one brilliant idea hit him. He had just thought of something that will make Mankind suffer for the rest of his life: He created Relative Grading.

Within no time, Cain murdered Abel, hence making Abel the first victim of frustration due to relative grading in the history of Mankind. Fast forward thousands of years later and here I am sitting in my room and feeling like doing the same thing to some of my classmates

Being a below average student sux, but here in IIM, it doesn’t hit me that hard. I am more than happy to be a below average student in this prestigious institution. But what really sux is the fact that we guys never gain recognition. People treat the toppers like celebrity. They even award them medals and throw a party n get drunk, when in fact it is them who are screwing up everybody else when it comes to grading. Whereas it is us guys who actually push up everybody’s grades. For every small mark that we screw up, we know deep inside that somewhere out there, there is an individual being pushed above average (Yes, I am doing QM for the second time, so I know perfectly well how a normal distribution is calculated! )

Had I not been here, I assure you, there would have been quite a number a people on the other side of the mean, and the standard deviation would have significantly decrease.

Humility aside, I sincerely feel that, just like the top 10 students who are awarded the DML (Director’s Merit List) award, us bottom 10 should have been awarded some sort of medal, strictly from the Student’s Union side.

He he he… okie, was just kidding. Actually all u DMLs and toppers rock. Especially those of you who are always ready to help me out whenever I have a doubt. As much as it sux, Relative grading is something that we’ll always face in the real world. It brings about competition.

And this is not just regarding acads or business. Even when it comes to flirting, mankind always competes. Who has the bigger car or smaller cell phone. Looks take a back seat, and charm now sits in the driver’s seat. For most girls, it all depends on how much of a smooth talker the guy is, whereas for most guys, how hot the girl is. For girls, it’s easy to score as guys will fall for anything. But for guys to score, it takes a lot of meticulous planning, cajoling, serenading, impressing, and most important of all, making her laugh. Ofcourse when I say this I don’t speak on behalf of all the ladies who feel that guys shouldn’t be just smooth talkers but also non-alcoholic, career oriented, financially stable blah blah blah.

Anyway, to sum up everything, I guess Relative grading is something we can never run away from. It will always be there, waiting to pounce on us when we least expect it. Sometimes it’s a good thing, like when the paper is really difficult and nobody knows how to solve it. But when it’s a moderately easy paper, everybody leaves you far behind and you suddenly realize nobody’s around you to share your sorrow. You become, once again, an outlier. Gnite.


Friday, August 12, 2005

Chp 42. Here comes the weekend

Exams finally over!!!

Well, I slogged much harder than I did last year. Why, I even put two nite-outs during the exam! The only time I ever put nite-outs last year when it comes to acads, was that one time when I was writing my man-comm assignment about pitching for a condom company, and once more during my eco final exam. And here I am now, happily nite-outing just half way thru the 1 semester itself. It kinda looks like history is not going to repeat itself…

But Alas! The end result is the same: utter disaster. Royally screwed in Accounts, Eco and Statistics, and “peasantly” screwed in BGS and MO.

And then something strange hit me. I did not feel so bad screwing up. Funny. Coz last year, had I studied and done badly, I would be like, man why the fuck did I waste my time studying anyway. But now, I feel a wee bit sense of satisfaction. Another metamorphism of a human mind bcoz of IIM, I guess.

And I found out recently that if you type “IIMB sux” at google.com and click on the “I’m feeling luck” button, it will take you directly to my blog! Even if you Google search, my blog is the first result it will show when u enter IIMB sux. LoLzzz.

Anyway, after two more days of classes, here we are, with a solid 3 day weekend! Something extremely rare in the IIMs. And before I can heave a sigh of relief and relax a bit, every time slot was filled up. Friday evening: dinner party at Lin’s place, Friday mid-nite: MST’s bday house party, Saturday aftie-evening: Bangalore Mizo fresher’s party, Saturday nite: Poison Ivy and her fren’s combined bday house party, Sunday morn: Catching up with “D” n gang, Sunday aftie: Church with “P”, Sunday evening: Freedom Jam rock concert @ Palace Grounds with huge gang, Sunday nite: The Club with “A” and her frens, Monday morning: uh… flag hoisting ceremony at IIM Monday aftie: Lets see…

It’s going to be tough to keep all the appointments. Even my poor sister who was planning to fly down from Mumbai to spend the weekend with me had to cancel her plans coz I’ll be busy. And I still haven’t changed the water in my fish tank… I must do it today, no more procrastination. Them poor fishes are having a tough time and the death-rate is now very close to one every 4 days!

Anyway, today I went to have a haircut again, Mohawk style. And then I thought what the heck, exams over and I do deserve to have a good time. So I indulged myself with a nice menthol oil massage, shehnaz facial, shampooing and grooming. And that’s not all. Decided to do something radical just like that, so I told their in-house beautician to color my hair! I made a lot of calls to all the girls I know here in Bangalore regarding what color would best fit my complexion. Finally decided on L’Oreal Copper blonde 8.3 (Don’t ask me how I remembered the name. I wanted something not very prominent as this is my first time n I don’t know how its gonna turn out. So I called up every girl I know again n asked them what they think of L’Oreal 8.3 )

I learnt a lot that day while waiting in the girl’s section of the beauty parlour. Like, I now know why girls never go to a parlour alone, coz the waiting is pure dullesville. I had to sit there with my hair mask or whatever u call that thing and wait for some whitish cream to set on my hair, for like 30 minutes. And then the beautician applied the main dye for which I have to wait another 45 minutes! Man all this waiting was just killing me softly, or atleast killing the man in me softly

One of my frens who’s a beautician at Shanaaz (hope I got the spelling rite) Beauty Parlour in Indiranagar told me to colour my hair in streaks n not completely. So I did just that. Man it kinda hurts! As the beautician pulled out strands of my hair from the holes in the hair-mask with a small stick (She said my hair is too short to use the tin foil or whateva), I feel pain electrifying thru my entire head. It was then that I realized how much pain girls go thru everytime they go for their threading n waxing n other girlie stuff. New found respect for my sisters yo.

What I hate the most at that place was, there was absolutely nothing to do. It’s extremely difficult for a guy to just sit there with beauty products all over the hair and do nothing. I tried passing my time reading the magazines. WTF, they are all girlie magazines. “50 ways to deal with PMS”! Why the fuck would I be reading that. I know just one way of dealing with PMS and that is: “Stay away from the girl and go out drinking with the guys.” What could be more effective than that? :D And then there was “How to tell if your boyfren really loves you”. Comon ladies, just give him a couple of tequila shots and trust me, he’ll love you like nobody every loved you before he he, ok no more potshots at the ladies. Love you all. Muuaaahh*

Have a terrific weekend everyone. And hoping to see all you Bangalorean bloggers at the “Freedom Jam” rock concert at Palace ground this Sunday. I’ll go cheer for one of my fren Fahad’s band “Catatonic Rage”. Plus I know a couple of guitarists from other bands too. Hoping to meet y’all rocking away to glory there. Just keep a look-out for a chinky with a Mohawk hairstyle and weird streaks of brown running thru it. Hard to miss me! Ciao everyone.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Chp 41. Bummer Party scene

I left a happening Bangalore 2 months ago for my summer internship. 2 months later, I came back to the Pub city and what do I find? A pre-historic Bangalore! Not a single disc is open beyond 12 anymore! Gone are the days of partying till 5am at Club-X. WTF, Club-X isn’t even there!!!! Freaking cops closed the place down.

Word on the street is that this is only just a temporary phase because there is a new Police chief or whateva in the city and the cops wanna lay things low for a week or two. Comon, it’s already been more than a month since I came back and the condition don’t seem to be improving at all.

Saturday night and no Club-X. I can’t believe this shit. Jeez, that’s my freaking Church, man. I went to other places, but none of them could substitute Club-X.

Pubbing on a Saturday nite sux. Went to Pubs I’ve never been to in years, like Peco’s, Mojo, Guzzler’s Inn, Bunkers, Cosmo Village, Jeffrey’s, Library Bar @ Leela etc… Well, once the alcohol hits you, its kinda fun, but nothing can beat a nice dance floor with psychedelic lights and DJ playing hiphop or house that u simple just have to shake ur ass to.

My frens from Bangalore told me the two new discs, Oblivion and Club Sin sux, and advised me never to go there, so I didn’t. Another fren of mine told me to check out “Fabulous”. Well, she is one heck of a party animal so I took her words for granted.

Went to “Fabulous” one fine Saturday nite. It’s on Intermediate ring road, just before reaching Airport road. Nice place. Valet parking, and the best part was, no entry or cover charge. Maybe because I was with a date. But soon, I found out this was a bummer. Because muh date “B”, well, she’s more of the hiphop kinda gurl. I mean, yeah, even I am so into hiphop, but I was brought up partying on songs like “Sweet dreams” by La Bouche and 2 Unlimited’s “No Limit”. I mean, comon those days, the only music closest to hiphop was MC Hammer’s “You cant touch this”! The ambience of “Fabulous” had a very late 80’s early 90’s setting. DJ played songs like “YMCA”, “Voulez Vous”, “Karma chameleon” etc. After two pints, I was already shaking my shoulder and clicking my fingers like the 80’s style, while my date just sat there cribbing about the music. That spoilt the whole vibe, man. Anyway, I managed to drag her to the floor around 10:30 and had a great time dancing. Then at 11pm they announced that the Bar is closed and at 11:30 they played their last song!!!! Sad! WTF do we do after that???? Anyway we went to a fren’s house party and I tried my best to have fun for the rest of the morning.

And then, I went to “The Club” the other nite. And it just occurred to me, the last time I went to “The Club” was the first time I ever went to a disc in my entire life. 10th standard summer break. 9 years ago! OMG, I feel so old. And I can’t believe “The Club” is still there. Another disc we used to go to those days, “J.J’s”, aint there anymore. But “The Club” is still there, bringing back such wonderful memories. And what’s even more surprising than that is, in 9 years, the place hasn’t changed at all! I can still remember the same swimming pool, dance floor and the balcony over-looking the dance floor. Anyway, I took out my four hot air-hostess frens “A”, “P”, “M” and “J”. George n “K” joined us. Everywhere I look, it was nostalgia all over again. Man, even the plastic beer mugs hasn’t changed in 9 years! I had an amazing time that nite. The placed opened till 2:30. Well, I guess its worth it, coz the place is so far away from the city. Had food at Com Street at 4 in the morning. “P” passed out n I was so freaking scared she’ll puke in the car, but thank God nothing happened.

Other than that, the only disc I’ve been to recenty is “Taika”. Even on a Sunday nite, there’s an entry with cover charge costing a cool 600 bucks. Girls free entry ofcourse. One cover charge gets you 4 pints of beer or 2 cocktails. Went there with my 4 air-hostess frens and then, I threw my party there when I found out I was allowed to continue in this Institution. It was just me and my close circle of frens. Amol, Tommy, Monu, Amra, Ankita, Shubha and Momo.



[Yours truly, Tommy, Amol and Momo]



[With Shubha, blog name Elysia :) ]



[Ankita, always smiling and cribbing :) ]



[Momo, Amra and Shubha. Sorry Monu, ur not there in any pic!]

Thus ended nights of partying. Every one of them great, but still not as great as Club-X. I’ve had a lot of debate with my frens regarding this. Some of them even claimed the crowd at Club-X is cheap. I don’t care. Coz I always manage to have the greatest time whenever I go there, so all I do right now is pray and hope Club-X open soon…


Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Chp 40. da Resurrexion!!

What do you think was the first thing on Lazarus' mind when he was brought back to life? Boy it sure feels good to be alive once again? Well, thats exactly whats on my mind right now. Boy it sure feels good to blog once again.

I haven't updated my blog in a loooong time. Many reasons. To keep a long dramatical story short, lemme just brief you all on what happened since my last post. Will keep it as short n sweet as possible. Completed my summer internship, flew back to IIMB, bad news, academic results not up to mark, got chucked out, depressed, appealed, PGP Committee, Director hearing, Board of Governor meeting, faculty review board, closed room discussion, verdict, accepted back into the Institute, rejoiced, celebration, treats, party, party, party, party, class commence, studies, tests, exams, assignments, party, basketball match, tests, assignments, party.

Its been one heck of a month since coming back here. Thanx a lot to everybody who continued visiting my blog. I've been really busy because of the above mentioned incidents. I would really love to reply to your comments at my "sonargachi" post (some of them really smart-assed comments too) but guess now the fire has died down :) Anyway thanx a lot wimpy, mihir, jam, nirav, chaichat, poweryogi, rikhi, vin, wiseorotherwise, jerry, chiru, ronnie, kaashyapeya etc. for all your comments.

After I got the news that i had to leave this place, well, I was devastated ofcourse, but at the same time, I looked at life on a broader perspective. Because after working in BP for just 2 months, I realised this is what i am meant to do. Finally in life I have found something I truly enjoy doing that is not related to basketball, designing, clubbing or drinking. If you have read my earlier post you'd know that I wanted to quit (around 2nd semester) and I even talked to the PGP Chairperson about this. Thats why I never had the real motivation to study anymore bcoz I thought I was doing something that I am not meant to do. But I wanted to work in an Organization, so I completed my 1st year with minimum marks. And then work I did, and found out I fit in so well, but alas, it was too late as my marks were too low and I did not qualify, hence I had to leave this Insti. Now what? An incomplete MBA degree, but what I have learnt here definitely made me complete. Its not the degree that IIMB offer which I will miss the most. It occured to me that what I will miss the most if i have to leave would be the time I spent with everybody here. In a way, this has completely changed me. Anyway, my appealing procedure went on for 2 weeks! While most of the other students who were also undergoing this appealing process were all tensed up and nervous, yours truly decided to face my fate like a man and instead spent my two weeks hanging out with my frens. Every single nite we all went out, checking out new restaurants and pubs. I went to that new disc on intermediate road, Fabulous, went to Taika over and over again (ClubX is still closed), The Club, Peco's, Mojo, 100 feet restaurant, Little Italy, Casa Picola, Magnolia, Jeffrey's, Oasis, Bunkers, Cosmo Village, etc etc...

After 2 weeks, I was finally informed that the Institute has reviewed my past performances and allowed me to continue! Praise the Lord. Got sloshed that night. And then I was busy catching up with Acads etc... its backto the grind once again. But this time I am not going to screw things up again. More updates coming up soon....

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Chp 38. Mumbai Shock!

30th May Monday:
Walked into Office. Everybody welcomed me back and said they missed me It was indeed nice to walk around in the Office once again. Mrs. Margaret was there as usual wishing me. My makeshift desk has been placed next to her and half the time we pass smart comments about each other. Everything is so much peaceful, now that my road trip is finally over. Until I received a mail from the Bombay Head Office telling me to be in Mumbai on June 2nd for my project presentation! WTF! I spoke to my guide who told me to relax and said he’ll speak to them. So I continued with my data analysis.

31st May Tuesday:
It’s the Month end, so every Sales and Marketing executive was busy. Meeting after meeting took place in the office. As for me, I just sat in my desk trying to come up with a pattern from all the data I’ve collected. Was about to leave in the night when my Mentor, Mr. Shankha Banerjee, the BP Brand Manager, called me and said I have to go to Mumbai day after tomorrow for my presentation! Good news is, I just have to tell them what all I have done so far and what I still plan to do. Bad news is, I have nothing much to tell them as I am still working on my Jharkhand and Orissa report.

1st June Wednesday:
Spent the whole day working on my Phase II report. Got my tickets for tomorrow 6am flight. My presentation’s tomorrow 2pm. Finally I finished my report at around 10pm and submitted them to my Mentor and also to my Guide. Rushed home. Started working on my presentation at 12 mid-night after packing.

2nd June Thursday:
Worked on my presentation till 3 in the morning. Decided to sleep for an hour since I was damn tired. I ended up sleeping for 2 hours! Panicked and rushed to the Airport. Missed my flight by 40 minutes!!!! #@$#%$#@!!! The next flight to Mumbai was Jet Airways at 1pm. Bought a ticket for that out of my own pocket. Made lots of really embarrassing phone calls to many people, which I’d rather not talk about :)
Boarded the 1pm flight. Rehearsed my presentation for sometime during the flight. Good news is, Bombay Office said they’ll reschedule somebody in my spot and its ok as long as I reach today. Bad news is, all the Big Bosses of Castrol now know about this and they will definitely have a bad opinion about me. But I do not regret it at all. Wanna know why? Well, guess who I sat next to on this flight to Mumbai? Mr. Mahendra Bhagat, the Marketing Manager of ESSAR! We ended up talking about everything that ESSAR is all about, right from retail outlets for Fuel to Hutch mobile service provider. We talked about the Steel Industries too, which is ESSAR’s flagship. And I happened to know a great deal about the situation of the Steel Industry in India due to the Strategy Project I had back in College, which was on TISCO. He gave me his card at the end of the flight!!! How cool is that. To me, it’s the next big thing to being offered an on-spot job offer!
Reached Mumbai at 4:30pm. Went directly to Technopolis on Mahakali Caves Road. Reported to Ms. Savitha, the HR Manager. Met all the other interns and boy it felt good catching up. At 8pm I was informed that my presentation’s tomorrow. Got a room at Hotel Tunga International. My dear sister came to pick me up. Had dinner at my room together. Oh by the way, today is her birthday, so I decided to do something really special. I sent her a happy birthday sms while I was in the plane, 5000 ft above sea level. James and Vikram too came to my room for dinner that night. They are the Castrol summer interns from IIM-A and MICA respectively.

3rd June Friday:
My presentation went off well I guess. The panelists consist of Mr.Sasidharan Vice Presi of Marketing, Mr.Sanjeev Kaul, GM of Automobile, Mr.Rajiv, GM of North and East, Mr.Srikanth CT Manager and Mr.Anand the General Manager of HR … Even though I couldn’t conclude much due to my limited analysis, I think they were quite impressed with some of my suggestions. Spent the rest of the day in Office waiting for my sister to pick me up. She came around 6pm and we moved into her friend’s place at Bandra. A very nice girl. Her name’s “M”. She’s like 7-8 years older than me but she’s still very hot and… exciting.
Very soon, it was time to party! Started the night at Toto’s Pub where my sister’s other fren "S" joined us. I kinda felt a bit awkward being the only guy and two really hot n sexy girls (am not talking about my sister ofcourse) dancing with me. Luckily Ganesh, my senior from Engg Coll and IIMB and also Castrol Area Sales Manager, was in town. I called him up. We went to Shooters on Lincoln road where he came and joined us. Danced a lot there and was quite drunk by then. But that’s not the end of it all. Around 2am, we went to “Avalon” at Bawa International. Fucking amazing. 800 per couple but it was all cover charge. Lots n lotsa hot hot babes all around, but I stuck to MY hot hot babes
Partied till 6am. Was completely sloshed by then. Slept as soon as we reached home (“Slept” is the politically correct word for “Passed out”. LoLz!)

4th June Saturday:
Woke up at 4 in the afternoon! Puked as soon as I got up. Took a long nice shower and tried to remember if I have done anything stupid the previous night. My sister’s peacefully sleeping between me and “M” and she’s not clutching a knife so I guess I behaved well with her frens. Although I did vaguely recollect getting a lot of “kim, I’d love to continue dancing with u this way but I can’t because I am ur sister’s fren” from "S"
Saturday was dull compared to Friday. My sis, “M” and I went to Trafalgar Chowk for dinner. After that we drank at home coz none of us had any strength to party. Slept by 12.

5th June Sunday:
Woke up at 9 and went out to meet Amol. We had breakfast at the coffee shop in Globus. After catching up with what’s all been happening in our lives, we went to Independent Café for lunch. Ordered draught beer along with the food. Son of a bitches served us bottled beer. When I complained, they insisted that the beer is indeed draught and not bottled. Bastards. Am a regular draught drinker and I can easily differentiate between a bottled beer and draught. But Amol didn’t wanna create a scene so I let it go. Am never gonna go there again.

My sis dropped me at the Airport around 4pm and reached Cal by 7pm. It was raining heavily and since I had my laptop in my hand baggage, I spent 2 freaking hours in the Airport waiting for the rain to stop.

Chp 37. British Petroleum - Part Two

Phase II of British Petroleum:

When I reached Cal, I submitted a brief report of my Uttar Pradesh trip to my guide. As I sat there infront of him while he went through my report, I really felt proud. Finally somebody was going to appreciate my work, which did not involve sports, DJ’ing or website/graphics design. It really felt good, especially after working my ass off endlessly for 10 days at a stretch. Then he looked at me and shattered all my dreams. It was like those moments when you’re nominated for a Grammy and the MC announces that not only did you lose but your Record is the worst ever. Although my guide did not use those exact words, I can make it out that he was disappointed. I have failed to analysis the price factor. That includes the DLP, MOP, MRP, dealer margin, net margin, scheme margin, FOC, cash discount etc of each and every product that the dealer is selling. Those are really complicated and complex issues, so I thought since I was just a mere summer trainee, I didn’t have to get into all that. How wrong I was.

So on my next market tour, I had just one target in my mind: Pricing. I was even more determined than before, but at the same time disheartened. Coz it really sux to work so hard and then realize all those hard work isn’t worth all the trouble you just took.

Anywayz, landed in Ranchi on . The place was amazing! It was like a miniature Calcutta. Lots of shopping malls, MNC fast food joints, pretty young girls, pirated hiphop music video CDs, chaat wallas, etc etc. The place is definitely a commercial hub, modernized to its max. I think the best part was the climate. Just like Bangalore. There wasn’t any need to sleep with the AC switched on during the night. Doing the local and upcountry market was very pleasant. Except ofcourse when I had to travel to Gumla. Those are the rural tribal areas infested with hardcore naxals. It was indeed scary to drive through those parts. My DSR told me not to stare at anybody right in the eye. We had to leave the place around 3pm so that we can reach Ranchi before the Sun sets. Driving through those areas after dark is pure suicidal. Fortunately nothing happened, except for a small incident where the people threw sticks at our car. LoL! I mean, it would make much better sense to throw stones at people you don’t like, but boy am I glad its just sticks. After 5 days, I left for Jamshedpur. That very next day, I read in the papers that naxals (Maoists) killed 9 people of a family of 3 at Lohardaga, one of the areas I drove through barely 10 hours ago!

To cut a long story short, I had a great time at Jharkhand. It wasn’t anything that I’d expected. Bought a lot of pirated Hiphop music VCDs, each for a mere 20 bucks.

Orissa on the other hand was terrible. Rourkela was a freaking furnace. The street is completely deserted between 12 and 4pm because of the heat wave. Man, I had to cover my face with a towel even while sitting in the auto due to the hot air burning up my face. Had food poisoning too. Thought it was heat stroke and I panicked. But the symptoms were not that of a heat stroke. Had high fever and an upset stomach. No appetite. Spend the whole day lying on my bed, with no strength to even watch TV. Finally, I rushed into the loo and puked my guts out. Within an hour, I was completely back to normal! The next day, I continued my work as scheduled.

Bhubhaneshwar and Cuttack on the other hand were completely different. Much bigger and developed than Rourkela. Watched the FA Cup final in the night. Arsenal won on penalty! Woohoo!!!!! Balasore was another beautiful place. It rained cats and dogs the night I reached that place. The highway looked really scary with lightning and thunder all around us. Spent my last two days there and finally went back to Calcutta.

I felt really proud because the data I’ve collected is way way better than what I collected in Uttar Pradesh. 18 days, 16 cities, 2 States and 1 food poisoning later, I reached Calcutta.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Chp 36. British Petroleum - Part One

Haven’t updated my blog in quite a while. Not only is there no time to spare, the blogger login page has been blocked by the Office Admin. Anyway, here I am updating with the latest from me. Past few weeks, I’ve been busy as Hell. I’ve started my summer internship at British Petroleum. Or bp. They’re the ones who bought Castrol sometime ago and Aral recently. It’s a Global Organization, and a truly amazing one. Its my first work experience and my sole intention is not to screw it up.

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Calcutta

Free accomodation! How cool is that. Am staying in Cal for my bp summer internship at my dad's friend's son's appartment. Free of cost ofcourse. Two huge bedroom, one of them with AC, and both beds are Kingsized double beds. Bathroom's huge too, with shower and washing machine. 24hrs water and electricity. And a huge Salon too. I love my life. Just one sour apple. The location. I mean, locality wise, its perfect. Close to Howrah Railway Station. But my building is one hell of a scary building. Its actually a combination of shops and offices. My appartment once used to be an office which my "landlord" converted into a residential flat. But all my neighbours are offices. When I return from work late in the night, I have to go up 4 floors of empty corridoors and stairways. In the night, I am the only living soul in the entire building. Trust me, its very scary. And the gate of my building is locked at 10:30pm sharp after which the watchman leaves. So if I reach my building after 10:30, I gotta stay in a hotel for the night. Other than this, I am absolutely happy with my flat.

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Life in bp

Life in bp rocks, especially when it comes to traveling. Wherever I go, it would be either by plane or train, and when I say train, I’m talking about 1st or 2nd class 2-tier AC compartments. It felt really good to sit there inside my first class cabin knowing I’m traveling on company’s expenditure. It was then that I realized many other people are also traveling on company’s expenditure. Of the three people sharing my Cabin, one was a sales executive from Britannia; another was the regional HR of TCS. The third person, well, he kept to himself and his laptop so guess he didn’t want to socialize with us.

Long time ago, when I was a young school kid, I used to look at all these people traveling in my flight, and when we reach our destination, there will always be this uniformed chauffeur waiting for them at the airport, while I had to settle for a taxi. I used to think, man, these are rich folks and someday I am going to be like them. Well that someday hasn’t come yet, but what I do know now is that, most of the people who travel this way are not all that rich, but rather because they work for a “rich” organization. Most of the chauffeurs waiting for them at the airport are under contract from the company they work for.

I mean, take for instance my trip to Mumbai for the orientation program. The Company flew me from Aizawl to Mumbai via Kolkata. There at the Mumbai airport was a smartly dressed chauffeur in white waiting for me with a nameplate that reads “Mr.Vanlalruatkima, Castrol India Ltd.” Boy I’ve never received that kinda treatment before. I mean, yeah, when I land in Aizawl, there’s always my driver (and sometimes one of my three irritating sisters along with the driver) waiting for me at the airport. But a professional driver, and that too with a luxury car packed with 5 different newspapers, soft drinks and eatables? No sir! And he dropped me at this amazing hotel, where I was supposed to share a deluxe suite with another intern. I found out later that the cost of that room was a cool 15K per night! After 2 days of orientation, the company flew me back to Kolkata, and once again I had a chauffeur awaiting my arrival.

Apart from all that, as I have mentioned at the beginning of this section, the company is paying for all the tickets for my fieldwork too. And ofcourse all the expenses that I have incurred during my field trips are all reimbursable. I have been with the company for hardly a month and they have already spent more than 80K on me alone. Initially, when I tell others that I’m getting 12.5K as salary, they laugh. Because the average summer internship salary for an IIM student posted in India is around 20K. But I’ve found out that most of them have to pay for their own transportation, accommodation and food while on tour etc. Eventually, me and my 12.5K are much better off than them and their 20K. Ofcourse I am not comparing myself with my friends like Tommy and Shubha who are doing their summers in an Investment firm in London and Singapore right now. Those guys are literally minting money. Talking purely desi here, I am indeed fortunate to land up in such an amazing Organization as this.

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Party scene in Cal

Well, first of all, my most regular hangout joint here is Haldiram’s on AJC Bose Road. Its just around 200m from my office. The place has amazing Chaat items, and they make it really fast too. And then there’s the usual Forum, not as big as the one in Bangalore but consisting of the usual ingredients like Swarovski, Nike, Reebok, Adidas, the Candy Shop, movie multiplex etc… which is right behind my office (3 minutes walk). I go there now and then after office to eat. But Haldiram’s is a more suitable place to go to especially if you’re all by yourself.

When it comes to partying or chilling out over beer, I usually park my ass at “Some Place Else”, which has an amazing LIVE band performance almost everyday, and once went on a Saturday with my friend Matea who’s working at Hyatt Regency in Salt-Lake and his friends. But the only night I can truly call a good party was when we all went to Dublin and boogied away till the wee hours of early morning. Our group of friends definitely owned the dance floor that night. Other than that, I hardly find the time to party anymore. Am slowly developing a tummy and I haven’t done anything physical in ages now. Am dying to get back to IIMB and start my morning joggings again.

Then there is the new Lounge Bar called “Fusion” at The Golden Park, which was once upon a time called “London Pub”. I had my IIMB GD and interview at that hotel and I still remember going to this London Pub with the other candidates after our interview and getting drunk. Alas, now the place has changed completely. Anyway, it had a nice ambience and service was great too. Reminds me of Hyderabad, especially when the Lounge Bar fever hit that city.

When it comes to entertainment, I’ve seen just one movie so far, and that was “Hitch” with Tenny on my birthday. I got the day off on that special day and I indulged myself on a lot of things, like excessive shopping, expensive booze, and trying out atleast 20 different Giordano wrist watches and then walking away I spent that night at Matea’s flat, partying, drinking and passing out to welcome my 25th year of existence in this boring World.

Just before leaving for my UP trip, we had the IIMB Fresher's party. We conducted it at "One Step Up" on Park Street. Since there are only three interns from our batch working in Calcutta, 4 of our seniors came along to help us out. Around 15 freshers turned up. All in all, it was a great evening, and guess the best part was the free food Although I was a bit disappointed because nobody inquired about sports or partying or even music. One guy did asked if there was a gym, and another talked about carnatic music. No rockers, no hiphoppers. I'm sincerely hoping that atleast some of the rest of the freshers are not like them.

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“Hi, my name is Kima”.

Lately I’ve been thinking of changing my name. Not that I hate it or anything like that. I just don’t think my name fits well in the Corporate World.

I mean, my name had its modest share of fun. All those countless numbers of basketball tournaments I’ve played during my school and engineering days had wonderful memories of the crowd chanting in great unison “KI-MA, KI-MA, KI-MA”. In a way, it encouraged me to play even harder and better. And it was also an excellent crowd puller. Neutral spectators usually end up supporting for our team as they joined the rest of the people screaming out my “strange” name. To them it kinda made sense for me to have a “strange” name since I had a “strange” face. Even when I’m not there playing basketball, my name does make me popular. Everybody in College knows who I am. After all who can forget such a unique and easy to remember name like “Kima”. Even when I compare my name with my friends’ names, mine sounds relatively much better. Take for example, a bedroom scene. A girl will find it much easier to scream out in ecstasy “Oh… Kima… Kima… Kimaaaaa” rather than “Oh… Shankaranarayannnn…” or “Oh… Srikantannn Selvamaniiiii…” Comon, ladies, admit it. Wouldn’t you all rather say my name?

But now I live in a different World. The Corporate World. A World filled with fast decision making and complex strategy implementation. Also, a World governed by names like Ben, Michael, Dave, Bill and Tom. Or in the Indian context, Amit, Anup, Anil, Pradeep and Rajesh. In the midst of all this, it does indeed seem a bit strange to be a “Kima”.

Consider my situation. I walk into a room filled with Sales Managers, Marketing Specialists, Retail Managers and Distributor Special Representatives. The ASM stands up to introduce me and inform them that I’ll be visiting the various markets under their control for my project. He says, “Meet Mr. Kima”. I can immediately see the reaction of the people, trying to suppress a laughter.

Its not their fault. After all, I too would definitely laugh if somebody comes up to me and say “Hi, I am Mr. Biryani” or “Whats up dude. My name is Masala Dosa”. The name “Kima” isn’t exactly a serious sounding name here in India. And many people too had a lot of fun teasing me with names like “mutton kheema” or the corny “I’ll make a kima out of you” line.

I still remember one really funny incident back in Hyderabad. An old friend of mine, Anita, has come down from Mumbai. She’s supposed to meet two of her friends for lunch and told me to join them. After catching up with old times, Anita and I went to the restaurant a bit late and her friends have already placed their order. As we sat down, Anita introduced me to her friends Celina and Aseem. Upon hearing my name, Celina screamed out. Her face suddenly turned rosey red and Aseem burst out laughing. It seems she has ordered “Kheema balls” for lunch! I’ve never laughed out that much in a long time, and neither have I seen anybody blushing that red! Obviously, she did not eat the “Kheema balls” she ordered, so Anita and I happily shared them between ourselves. It was delicious, I swear.

Maybe I will change my name someday. Now and then, many of my close friends lovingly call me by different names: Kimsy, Kim, Kimkim. Of the three, the most common one would be Kim. Yeah, I kinda like the name Kim. Much better than Kima. But in a way, it kinda seem so… Chinese wannabe types, you know. Kim-Pok-Wong or Chang-Kim-Xiang or my favorite, Kim-Big-Dong. Kim is such a common name in Asian countries like China, Korea, Vietnam etc. The funniest name I’ve ever come across was this Chinese athlete. Dunno if it was just an urban legend, but it seems this dude was running a race and was leading until the crowd started chanting his name to give him moral support. Instead he got demotivated and lost the race. His name was Kim-Yoo-Suk. LOL!

I definitely do not want one those English names. Nowadays many mizos have “first names”, something that we mizos usually don’t have, like Paul Lalthangzela, or Stephen Lalhriatpuia. Even tamil Christians have mixed names, like Paul Dhinakaran or Michael Muthuswammy. Atleast most mallu Christians have complete English names (Joseph Thomas, Matthew Xavier, or the funny tradition of naming their son the reverse of their name, like Anthony Paul, son of Paul Anthony, grandson of Anthony Paul, great grandson of Paul Anthony and so on). But even then, we do find some mixed names among the mallus, like Paul Chako etc. I don’t want a cocktail name. I love my name, but it unfortunately does not fit in well here in India.

I love Arab names too. Ahmed with that “khh” sound at the back of your throat. Only thing is, they are all too religion specific. I love African names too. As that stand up Indian Comedian said, “Real African names are wicked”. I would love to have a click in my name too. “Hi, my name is *click*ma”

Other than “Kima”, I sometimes browse or chat under my nicks “silverchild”, “illusionaire” and “sandman”. These are the three names I’d love to have, but they don’t sound too business like. Can you imagine the CEO of a Multi National Corporation called Mr. Silverchild? Until then, let me continue facing the oh-so-common question people ask me every time I tell them my name “Do you know that Kima is the name of a dish here in India” and I’ll be like “Really??? I didn’t know that.” Oh boy…

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My trip to Uttar Pradesh

10 days in Uttar Pradesh. It was an awesome trip when I look at it from a tourist’s perspective. But from the Organization side, man, it was one of the most tiring 10 days I’ve ever gone through.

All my life I’ve been in the South. Never been to any North Indian cities. And when I found out I had to go to Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi and two other places I’ve never heard of before, Lakhimpur and Gorakhpur, I was over ecstatic. Finally I was going to see what North India looks like.

Due to my commitment with the Company, I cannot disclose the exact nature of my project or the details on what I’m supposed to do at these places. To keep it short and simple, my project is to analyze the stagnated British Petroleum products in the Eastern Region and come up with a strategy to increase its market share. That is why I had to go to all these markets and interact with the dealers, distributors, mechanics and consumers, and ask them appropriate questions that are relevant to my project.

I nearly missed my train on the day I left Kolkata. I can’t believe how much these bloody taxi drivers are capable of ripping you off. I told him I have to go to Howrah and he said 50 bucks. Son of a b*tch. From my apartment, the meter won’t even reach 20. After asking atleast 10 other taxis I finally took one for 45 bucks. Reached my train with just 3 minutes to spare!

Lucknow:

The first feeling I got when I arrived at this much talked about city was of utter disappointment. Standing there at the station, I was shocked to see not a single auto around. Just plain rickshaws. I wouldn’t even compare it to Salem, Coimbatore or Madurai. More like Theni or Dharmapuri. Is this really Lucknow? Took a rickshaw and went to the hotel my friend Amol has recommended. Hotel Deep Palace. It was a freaking 3 or 5 star hotel. But since I got no other place to go, I stayed there for a night in their cheapest room, which was 2200/night. The next day I shifted to Presidency Inn. It was also quite an expensive hotel, 1500/night, but for Castrol employees, the rate has been reduced to 800/night. Nice.

On my very first day itself, I witnessed with my own eyes what north Indians just love doing. Chewing tobacco. Even before reaching the hotel, my rickshaw driver turned to me and said “Saab, kuch paan paraag ko khilai karenge?” It was from that day and throughout my entire trip in Uttar Pradesh that not a minute goes by without me spotting someone eating a gutkha. 90% of the people who are with me (the drivers, DSRs, dealers, distributors, mechanics, shop keepers, bell boys, waiters etc etc) all eat it. I mean, I got nothing against it, as I too sometimes chew tobacco. Ofcourse I am not a regular, and I just take it (for formality sake) when I’m offered. But these guys, man, they rip open a packet and eat the whole thing at one go. That same pack would last me atleast 8 “trips”. What I can’t stand is the fact that most of these guys spit it out. You can see red stains everywhere, on the walls, stairs, pavements, drainage, theatres, even hotel corridors. I mean, comon, even I eat them and I swallow after chewing. Whats the need to spit it out. If you’re gonna spit it out anyway, why eat it in the first place?

Met the RS (Retail Specialist) and he went with me on my first market visit since its my first time. Man, I never expected so many people to speak just hindi. Every passing minute was like one of those hindi movies my dear ex-girlfren used to drag me to :) I just sit there not understanding the exact meaning of the sentences they’re saying but at the same time knowing what they’re talking about as a whole. As I stand there talking to the mechanics, images of my mother advising me flash through my mind. She always used to tell me “I know you’re in tamilnadu and all your friends don’t speak hindi, but atleast put an effort to learn hindi on your own, you’ll find it very useful someday”. And I’ll be like “mum, I can shop in hindi and also argue with the taxi driver in hindi. What more do I need to know. As of now, I am contented with English, Tamil, Malayalam and French.” Damn, how right she was.

I guess the only thing I liked about Lucknow is the multiplex that came up very recently. It’s kinda like Forum, with around 4 theatres. There’s even a MacDonald’s there. And the crowd was not bad at all. Only problem was transportation as it takes like forever to travel by rickshaws.

Lakhimpur:

I still find it really awkward when the DSR calls me sir. No matter how many times I tell them not to address me as sir since I am just a summer trainee, they just don’t get it. But I kinda got used to it later. And everywhere I go, I was always offered something to drink. The dealers always ask me whether I’d like a “thanda” or a “garam”. “Garam” means a tea or coffee and a “thanda” means some cold drinks. How I wish it meant a nice chilled draught beer.

Lakhimpur was a pretty small place. But the lubricant market is huge due to the city mainly thriving on transportation. Met a lot of Lorry Fleet owners that day. Had a great feedback. Some of the fleet owners were really nice to me. They spoke to me in English and asked a lot about my origin. I ended up talking more about Mizoram rather than Diesel engine oil

Before going to Lakhimpur from Lucknow, I had to change cars because the car I hired initially did not have a seat belt at the back seat. Its against our Company Policy to travel anywhere without putting on the seat-belt. Its also against our Company Policy to travel more than 200 kms in a day by car or bus. When it comes to safety of employees, bp wins hands down.

Allahabad:

I found out that the correct pronunciation is “illa-ha-bad”. The city runs purely on rickshaws. The streets are really small and narrow, and the traffic is all crammed up. Noticed something really funny. Suppose a rickshaw is traveling at a certain speed and the rickshaw infront of him stops suddenly, then instead of braking to avoid hitting it, the driver bangs directly into it! And no reaction whatsoever from the driver infront! It seems this is a common thing here. Even I got bumped from behind a couple of times. Kinda awkward at first, especially when you’re so used to driving cars and abusing the person who gave you the slightest bump on your car. This is a completely different experience. And when you observe it clearly, it’s really funny too. As soon as the traffic lady shows the “stop” sign, every rickshaws on the street goes bump bump bump, like a chain reaction.

Stayed in a hotel which I must say is far worse than any of the other hotels I came across during my trip in the entire UP. The freaking AC sounded like the turbo engine of a plane and I have to switch it off in the night if I don’t wanna have nightmares about machines rebelling against humans and ruling the World. But food was great, especially the aloo paratha.

Did the upcountry market on my first day in Allahabad. Went to a Xerox shop to get some more copies of my questionnaire and guess what. Met two north-eastern girls there! Ofcourse I didn’t speak to them as we passed each other on the doorway of the shop, but I could see from the look in their eyes that they were equally surprised too to see another north-easterner at that area. I mean, we’re not even in Allahabad, I was like 90kms outside the city.

Saw Arsenal’s match against Blackburn, FA Semifinal, where Henry didn’t play and yet we won 3-0, thanx to Van Persie’s 2 goals in the last 8 minutes. Believe me, that guy is going to become the next Henry. Rejoiced when Arsenal won, even though I was all by myself. Guess indulging on TV is the only thing preventing me from going insane right now.

Gorakhpur:

On Day1, I did the upcountry market. That means I traveled 190 freaking kilometers on the back of a bike! My ass was completely numb that evening. Day 2 was the local market. Much much better.

One thing I have noticed so far. All the rickshaws have a unique different design everywhere. No city had the same kinda rickshaws. Some of them have seats higher than the others; some had a small extension at the back to keep bags etc, and some even had mirrors for the passengers to adjust their make up or whatever.

But rickshaws are really dangerous too. If a car from the opposite direction hit a rickshaw, the passenger is bound to fly out. I have come up with a way of safely riding on those rickshaws. I call it “A hitchhiker’s guide to rickshaw safety”. Just follow these simple steps given below:
1. Hold whatever handbag you’re carrying tightly with your right hand
2. With your left hand grip the side bar firmly
3. Place your left leg completely flat on the foothold of the rickshaw
4. Now press your right leg hard on the bar that is connecting the cycle and the cabin. This is directly below the driver’s seat
5. Sit up straight and be alert. Ofcourse it is important to relax otherwise if you sit in that position nervously, people will think you’re constipated.

In Gorakpur, the local RS booked a room for me at Hotel Shivoy. The tag-line of the hotel was “the affordable luxury”. And man, they really lived up to it. Coz the hotel was freaking amazing. The room I took was 1000/night but it was on the level of those 3stars which had 1800/night rooms. But then it doesn’t make much of a difference to me since I pay around 700/night at each hotel due to an agreement between the hotel and the Company.

Met this dude called Aubrey Ireland. He works at Room Service and his shift was after 6pm. One of the most charismatic and respectable guy I’ve ever come across. We chatted about soccer, rugby, pool etc and he was indeed a very nice and polite person. I promised him that I’ll speak to all my friends working in various hotels all over India and see if they can help him get a job in their hotel. Because although Hotel Shivoy is a great hotel, Gorakhpur is a sad place, and he too admitted that he wanted to work in one of the metro cities. Lets see what I can do for him.

Varanasi:

Not to repeat the mistake I made in Gorakhpur, I hired a nice AC car for my upcountry market visit this time. Varanasi was by far the most developed city (commercially speaking) among all the 5 places I’ve just visited. They had autos everywhere, place was really cool, and I was put up at Hotel Hindustan International. Amazing hotel, 3 or 5 star definitely. The room I took was around 1900/night, but for Castrol employees it has been slashed to 800/night. That’s like more than 40% reduction (I’m bad with math, always been, always will be ). How cool is that.

No wonder it’s a holy city. The place is so peaceful. And clean. I really wanted to take a bath in the Ganges, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time. And my guide for the day (the local DSR) told me that due to the crowd, I would have to spend atleast 3 hours standing on queue. Damn!

Sometimes I think being an “oriental” saves you from embarrassment. Coz I was on my way to Varanasi from Gorakhpur and I asked the people in my compartment which stations they’re getting off, as I’ll be reaching Varanasi at 7 in the morning and I wanted somebody to wake me up incase I oversleep. One gentleman said he’s getting off at Benaras. And I was stupid enough to ask him if that is before or after Varanasi. The entire compartment burst out laughing. Seriously I never knew they were the same place. I always used to think they were two different Holy cities. But then, they all kinda understood since I had a “different” face. Yay.

My train back to Cal was delayed for over 3 hours! Thank God it wasn’t that hot. Spent my 3 hours eating aloo-puri and drinking fountain apple juice. Overall, when I look back, I think my trip to Uttar Pradesh has been more than successful, and I have learnt a lot of new things apart from my work.

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Reached Calcutta after 10 days of Uttar Pradesh. The first thing that happened to me once I was in Cal, was the fleecing by taxi drivers. Nobody was willing to go to my apartment which is not even 20 bucks for less than 100 bucks. Finally found a shared taxi for 50 bucks. Sigh* I really am going to miss the cheap rickshaw rates of Uttar Pradesh. Better be cheap rickshaw rather than a ridiculously expensive taxi.

Next trip: Jharkhand and Orissa. Reports on it will come up soon.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Chp 35. Church on Easter

I love my community. Its not everyday that you post a message on a public forum and ask the people online if any of them can take you to a place you’ve never been to before, and people actually responds and volunteers to take you there, people you’ve never met or known before.

That’s what I did on Easter Sunday. As I have posted before, I have no idea where the mizo church is, or who the mizos here in Bangalore are. But there’s always this feeling of bonhomie among us, and everyone’s ready to help out anyone.

Jupiter, my new fren at Izawl.com who I have never met before, told me to come to Koromangala. I did that. He came on his bike, and I followed him all the way to Frazer town, to this church called Wesley Church. Man the place was filled with mizos, young and old, hip and smart. It was like a miniature Mizoram. Anyway, Jupiter and I introduced each other formally, and I met the other ppl who come online at Izawl.com

The Church was already filled up, so many of us sat outside. Its then that you realize, most of these guys come to the mizo Church not for the devotional experience, but rather to socialize with all the other mizos who are spread out all over the city.

Met a lot of mizos. I am definitely not going to remember all their names. After the Church service, we had our traditional tea time. We mizos just love drinking tea, don’t we. I surprised “P”. She was indeed surprised to see I made it I met her sister, mum and dad. They were really nice people. After that we went back together. Stopped at Corner House for a brief chocolate mousse on cream, and then back to my hostel. Had a great time together.

Dropped “P” at her PG hostel around 10 in the nite and then I was supposed to join Monu, Amra and Anita for dinner at LaCasa. Wasn’t that hungry. Anyway, I called up
Citrus a fellow blogger who I have never met before to wish her a happy Easter and she happens to be free. Decided to meet up as we have left comments on each other’s blog for so long and its Easter after all: we might be able to share the message of Christ. So there I was zooming all the way to Cunningham Road from Jaynagar 7th block (One end of the city to the other) in the middle of the night.

After MG Road, I missed a turn and ended up somewhere completely alien to my much limited knowledge about Bangalore roads. Kept on driving here n there but everywhere all I see were hoardings and buildings I’ve never seen before in my entire life. Started panicking!

Finally stopped an auto-wala n told him to go to Cunningham Road and that I will follow him (this ofcourse after telling him that I’ll pay for the service). Its all Citrus’ fault. Trust a woman to give directions

Reached Cunningham Road shortly. Rendezvous point was at Infinitea. Waited outside for them to arrive. After many minutes and two cigarettes later, dear Citrus came out from the Tea Joint and said they’ve been sitting inside all this time! Aaaaarrrggh

Met her frens Marlene and Gareth. Nice people. Marlene was extremely sweet. Tried out an exotic tea (Kawana Arabia something something). It was… exotic After that, we decided to go to Church Street, since the night was still young (hardly 1 in the morning). Gareth had his bike and I followed Marlene’s car. Went to Java City and hanged out there till we kinda ran out of things to say I guess

You know, I’ve never had this kinda experience before. I mean, I can handle blind dates or spend time with someone I’ve never met before. But spending time with a group of frens who knew each other so well and whom I’ve never met before was an entirely new thing. I think I handled it pretty well.

But ofcourse there are minor complications when you hang out with a group you’ve never fraternized with before. Small doubts creep into your head. Like “should I offer them my cold coffee just like how we always share when I’m with my frens” and “well we’ve just met, how far have I penetrated within their defensive barriers” or “If I crack that favorite joke of mine, will they consider me a racist?” etc etc… As a matter of fact, sometimes it feels like those Group Discussions we had inorder to get into the IIMs. Coz everybody around you are strangers and you’re looking for a part in the conversation where you can join in, and once you do that, you have to make eye contact with everyone. LOL. Ok I made it sound so inanimate! Frankly speaking, it wasn’t that bad that night, and those people quickly became frens of mine.

In the end, Citrus n Marlene were really sweet to hug n kiss me goodnite.

To sum it all up, guess I socialized with two groups of people I’ve never met before today. A year ago, I don’t think I would have done such a thing. Guess IIM has changed me.



Sunday, March 27, 2005

Chp 34. Izawl.com

The time to bid adieu to my seniors is nigh. Will post a special message specially dedicated to them shortly.

5 more days to go and one year is over for us too. Recently what have I been up to?

I came across this amazing mizo interactive website.
Izawl.com. It has been active for many years now, but I never knew about it At first I was a bit hesitant on posting any messages there. But slowly I gathered enough courage. The thing is, my mizo sucks big time. Ofcourse I can read and write mizo perfectly, but since I haven’t spoken in mizo in such a long time, well there’s a slight problem when I try to read a mizo sentence that has typos! I mean, when someone makes a spelling mistake while typing in English, you can easily make out what the person actually meant to type. But in mizo, gawd, I’m completely lost if I come across a typo! Coz one word has like zillions of meanings, it all depends on the pitch n pronunciation.

Anyway, I didn’t give my actual details there. I used the nick name “Sandman”. That way, if I make any grammatical errors while typing in mizo, nobody will know who I really am I told only two people, “Jupiter” and “Gisele”, that I’m from IIMB. Those two have become my regular chatting buddies at that website.

I have the advantage of being online the whole day (and usually whole nite too) at that website, as most people come online from a Cyber Café or from their work-place. Me, I have the luxury of browsing right from my bed anytime of the day

I have decided to go to Church today. Easter Sunday. The only time I ever went to a mizo function here in Bangalore was on X’mas, and that too bcoz Hminga was here. After he left, I became an even more deserted island when it comes to a mizo thingie. Not that it bothered me much, as all my life I’ve always hanged out with a non-mizo crowd. But yeah, sometimes, now n then, I do feel a deep shallow emptiness inside of me, not having any mizo frens or not knowing much about my culture. That’s why I have decided to go to Church today. I will meet many of the izawl.com regulars there: jupiter, mos_def, sick sad world, Gisele, ne0n, XXX, ammi, nunoi etc etc. They couldn’t believe it when I told them I’ve been in Bangalore for almost a year now, and none of them has heard about me (It’s a community thing. Everyone knows everyone types.)

Anyway, lets see how things work out