Divine Birth – A Short Story by the Missus

Smitha had an appointment with a well known psychiatrist, Dr.Linda that evening. She knew that she should retain control of her mind and try to forget all her fears and hopelessness. After all, failure was the stepping stone to success, or so they said. The doctor’s office was well furnished, with nice wooden cabinets, clean carpets and rosewood chairs. A good-looking receptionist enquired Smitha regarding her appointment. She duly showed her file, and was immediately escorted to the doctor’s room.

Dr. Linda was a tall, thin woman who wore very little makeup except for her light colored lipstick. She had a necklace made of thick blue beads, which reminded Smitha about the gypsy women back in India. She had a pleasant amicable face, and looking at her Smitha was reassured that her problems would be resolved. This was her second visit to the doctor, the first one being an introductory kind of session where the discussion revolved around her childhood, parents and marriage. Each session with the doctor was for two hours and cost a considerable fee. Today the doctor invited Smitha to sit in the black couch opposite to her desk. Smitha was only too eager to talk. Raghav had been a wonderful husband so far, supporting her during this mental crisis. It was high time that all of her fears were put to rest.

The doctor enquired about Smitha’s health. She asked Smitha to talk about her baby. Smitha started off –

“We had planned for this baby some time ago, however it took almost a year for me to get pregnant. When I finally found out that I was pregnant, was overjoyed and started planning for my little one’s life. I used to listen to Classical Music to soothe my mind and started yoga to relax my muscles during that time. We attended birth classes together. I collected short stories which I could recite to him when he’s old enough to listen, knit tiny sweaters for my new born, and also decorated his cot. I used to talk to my little one, and Raghav would always make fun of me. Raghav and me enthusiastically browsed the internet for baby names, the best kind of baby oils and powders. It was like a dream come true, a life growing inside me who would eventually call me “Mom”.

She wiped a tear and continued, “When it was finally time, I started having contractions and got admitted to the hospital. The nurse frequently checked upon me and then after 5 hours of labor, decided that now was the time. Raghav was also allowed into the Delivery Room. The baby did come out, but was born with four hands, holding a conch-shell, a club, a disc and a lotus flower, in each hand. There wasn’t even a drop of blood on him. The Indian nurse in the room, knelt down and started praying. The Doctor looked at the child with awe. Raghav fainted on the spot.” Smitha was fervently crying now. “I had so many dreams, I cannot look at him as my child, instead I have to respect Him and take care of Him, till He leaves me for a higher purpose. Why would God do this to me doctor”?

The doctor said, “Are you talking about Lord Krishna of Hindu mythology, I mean the way he was born? Am afraid am not that familiar with the Hindu Gods.”

Smitha said, “Yes! Yes!  I fear Him, I cannot even look at Him, let alone hold Him. Whenever I try to forget this fact and look and Him with motherly affection, He reminds me of all my sins and how unworthy I am to be His mother.”

Smitha woke up with a start, she had been dreaming. She was sweating profusely all over. She felt her stomach, yes, the baby was still there. She resolved to read less of epics like the Bhagvad Gita and stop watching TV serials like “Sree Krishna Mahatyam (The Greatness of Sri Krishna)” for the time being. After all, “Too much of nectar also becomes poison”.

Rahu Kaalam – Short story by the Missus

Mrs. Dhanalakshmi (Dhanam) was getting ready for her nephew’s wedding. Everyone was involved in their last minute dressing, with glittering gold ornaments, jasmine flowers and sandals. Her husband Natarajan had dressed up in a silk jubba and a pristine white veshti with golden silk border. Her two daughters had also come home for the wedding. Gayathri, the elder one was wearing an ordinary salwar kameez, which stood out compared to the glossy dressing of others. She was staring at something outside the window and seemed like she was thinking about something which Dhanam couldn’t quite understand. It was like she was staring at the deep blue sky, something which seemed like eternity, her eyes not focusing on the object but rather on the nothingness beyond.

She had been quite out of color lately, was always either reading a book or keeping to herself in her room. She wore dull clothes, never took interest in anything other than reading. Dhanam thought perhaps she was still trying to get over the tragic death of her husband Sridhar. Even Dhanam took some time to get over this shocker in Gayathri’s life. He had died four months ago because of a freak accident at the age of 27. However, life had to go on. Her younger daughter Lavanya was also trying to come to terms with this tragedy in the family.

All of them were now dressed and ready to leave for the wedding venue. They decided to while away time for the next half an hour, so that they could go out after the “inauspicious time”, rahu kaalam. Lavanya started the conversation with Gayathri, “I saw Maya who had come to visit my showroom. You never told us that Sridhar had committed suicide, instead you told he had an accident! Why did you hide it from us? Aren’t we family? Aren’t we supposed to know the truth? “. Dhanam couldn’t believe her ears. How come Gayathri could have hidden such a truth? “My God, is that true?”she exclaimed.

Gayathri remained gloom and yet staring at something like she was going to turn it to ashes. She told, “I thought its better if you guys didn’t know the truth”. Both Lavanya and Amma exchanged uneasy looks.

She continued, “Do you remember during ponnu paakkal when we were discussing of how to make him like me? I went to the extent of pretending to be a homely-girl-who-can-be-a-good-wife. We made extensive preparations to make Sridhar’s family like ours. However, Sridhar just wanted to get married. He didn’t care about how the girl looked like or what she did. He was desperate, just like we were, and we fell for the bait. After the wedding, in Singapore I met with his colleagues and friends. They all had a strange consoling expression on their faces. In fact I was told that Sridhar might act as if he’s not interested in me, so I was told to play the same game with him. I started thinking about how Sridhar behaved towards me; he always treated me like a goddess. On our first night together, he told how he doesn’t like making love to women without actually knowing them. I agreed with him immediately. I thought how nice it was of him to consider the predicament of a woman in such a situation. But that was just the beginning. He used to do most of his daily chores all by himself and it was almost like I was a guest in his place. He arranged for a taxi to take me around Singapore, we even did the Big Bus Tour of the city.

It continued for a month. He never used to talk openly to me, never take me outside; never even acted as if I was his wife. I was losing hope with each passing day, every day I would yearn for him to come and talk to me openly about what he feels, even put a lot of effort to make myself look attractive to him, but all my efforts were in vain. Maybe he was in love before? Probably he can’t forget that woman. Maybe he has an affair! These were some of the thoughts running in my mind.

Thankfully after six months of searching I got a job. It was around that time Ashok came to Singapore. Amma, do you remember you calling me and telling me that Ashok is coming to Singapore? I was happy that finally I will have someone to talk to. Ashok came, and Sridhar immediately took a liking to him, I was overjoyed that finally something good is happening in my life. I thought through Ashok I could let Sridhar know about how I feel, maybe Ashok was a key to open Sridhar’s heart to mine. After a few days, Ashok and Sridhar started going out drinking and to the pubs. Ashok used to come home and stay for hours. They used to take leave from office and go for guys-only-biking outings. This happened for eight odd months. By now I was convinced that there was more to this than meets the eye. One of these days I decided to confront them to see what they were up to. The possibilities were endless and there were just too many thoughts going through my mind.

That night believing that I had gone to a friend’s place, Sridhar and Ashok were having dinner at my apartment. At the 50th floor, I decided to confront them. As soon as I opened the terrace door, I got the shock of my life. Sridhar was shocked to see me there, having caught him doing what he was doing; he staggered behind fell off the terrace. I couldn’t see what he looked like from 50 floors above. Ashok and I rushed to the ground floor and there he was lying in a pool of blood.

How could I have been so blind to the fact that Sridhar was gay?”

Everyone was quiet in the room.

It was Ashok whose wedding the whole family was ready to attend. Dhanam’s eyes lingered on the clock and it was then that she noticed that Rahu Kaalam had just then started.

Bhagvad Gita – my take

LEB’s comment asking for my views on the Bhagvad Gita brought my fingers to the keyboard on one of the favorite topics that the Missus and me have been discussing for the past few days now, the Bhagvad Gita and its teachings. To give a little background, I possess a copy of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s (founder of ISKCON) version of the Bhagvad Gita which was sold to me by one of the European ISKCON monks in a train from Bangalore to Hyderabad, and the Missus had just about started reading it.

In my opinion, and based on my limited understanding of the Gita, the message was quite simple and clear, ‘Do your duty without expecting any fruitful results, the results will find a way of presenting themselves to you’ or something to that effect. Some more lines which I remember from the Gita are ‘I am the source of all spiritual and material things, I am the Supreme power from whom everything is created’, but then this second line I remember primarily because of the “Vishwa Swaroopam” (Supreme All-Being incarnation) that Krishna takes somewhere in the middle of his discourse to Arjuna on the battlefield. But somehow this line didn’t quite stick to my mind like the first one regarding selfless devotion to duty did, and that’s probably why to me the Gita always stood as an allegory for selfless performance of duty more than anything else.

The Missus after reading some verses from the version of the book that I had seemed reasonably miffed that it seemed more like ISKCON propoganda more than an honest re-telling of the epic itself. She tells me that it seems more like a recruitment pitch than a true understanding of the epic, and after having a look at some of the interpretations of the verses, I seem to agree.

Now I am not an expert on this subject, nor do I profess even a broad understanding of the epic itself, but the way I see it and considering the circumstances in which the Gita was narrated, I lean more towards the selflessness angle, and the ‘perform your duties in this world without any attachments’ interpretation of the Gita. Any readers with more insights are more than welcome to post your comments, makes for an interesting topic to talk about in my opinion.

Cheers……..Jam

The Missus’ favorites…

Four places I have lived

1) Thrissur

2) Chennai – Our only summer vacation plans used to visit our grandparents, so I used to be pretty excited about going to Chennai. Got my first job there too

3) London – I absolutely love the tube. Lived there for three months

4) Hyderabad

Four TV Shows

1) Friends

2) The wonder years – I remember how my sis and bro used to play Kevin and Jack Arnold at home.

3) Everybody loves Raymond

4) Ripley’s believe it or not

Four places I’ve been on vacation

1) Chennai

2) Kodaikanal

3) London

4) Mysore

Four favorite food items

1) Curd rice and kadu maangai

2) Fish fry

3) Thogayal podi

4) Pappadam

Four websites i visit daily

1) Facebook

2) Orkut

Nothing else

Four places I’d rather be

1) Chennai/Bangalore

2) Singapore

3) Dubai

Cant think of a fourth

Four things that i hope to do before I die

1) Self realization, learn and implement bhagavat gita principles in my life

2) Try not to think too much

3) African safari,and do some more travelling

4) Write a novel

Four novels you wish you were reading for the first time

1) Seventh Secret – Irving Wallace

2) The Day of the Jackal – Fredrick Forsyth

3) The Matarese Circle – Robert Ludlum

4) Harry Potter, the whole series

Four movies that I can watch over and over again

1) Philadelphia

2) New Delhi ( Malayalam)

3) Naaduvazhikal (Malayalam)

4) Jurassic park -the first one

Four people I want to tag

None

A few of my favorite things…

Well, looks like the season of tagging and being tagged is here again on the blogosphere (or did it never end). In any case, picking up the tag from AJCL, here goes my list of favorites in groups of 4 -

Four places I have lived

Bangalore - Was, is and will always remain home for me. Born, brought up and spent the first 24 yrs of my life here, so there’s no way any other city would even come close to it in terms of closeness to my heart.
Indore - Went there as part of my Post Graduation. Another city which really helped me get in touch with the real me, with what I wanted to do with myself in life. The 22 odd months spent there will indelibly be etched into my memory and psyche.
Hyderabad - This city gave me (and continues to give me) more than enough opportunities to prove my professional capabilities. Although I hate what the rest of the city has to offer, will forever remain as the city where I started off proving myself professionally.
Charlotte, North Carolina – Although I have spent only 4 weeks here, this city was yet another place where people respect me for what I bring to the table in terms of Relationship Management and Team Leadership. So this remains another favorite place.

Four TV Shows that I love(d) to watch

FRIENDS - Without an iota of a doubt my all time fave show. I can relate individual traits in myself to each and every character in this show. While I am biased towards Joey, somehow I find myself relating more to Chandler Bing.
Knight Rider and Street Hawk – Back in the Doordarshan days, these serials introduced me to the wonderful world of superheros and secret identities. At times I even wanted to get into crime-fighting because of these shows.
The Amazing Race – This to date remains my all time fave reality show. The tasks designed, the locations chosen, the profiles of the contestants, all of these make this show more and more interesting as the seasons go on.
WWE Shows – The World Wrestling Entertainment to me is what mega serials are to Maamis, and cricket is to Appa. This is my daily dose of nonsense masala which I can enjoy without exercising my brains too much. Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker were, are and will probably remain role models in terms of longevity in public memory.

Four places that I have been on vacation

London - The trip to the Ol’ Blighty during the last week of Dec 2008 will remain etched in my memory for more than one reason. This was the first real trip with the Missus, plus it was during the Christmas Day and Boxing Day weekend, which made it all the more hectic and an experience worth enjoying.
Palakkad - Have been to this place on and off almost once a year for the past 20 odd years. Lots of childhood memories associated with this good ol’ town from where I hail.
Chennai - The presence of my closest cousin here till 2004 almost made it mandatory that I would make a trip to this city every once in a while. Although it’s been more than 5 odd years now, memories of this place still stay with me.
Coorg - Man, that one official trip from office to Coorg is something that still sticks out in my memory. The fun we had, the weather, the gang of guys, the soccer, the drinking, all of this makes Coorg one of my fave holiday destinations.

Four favorite food items

Regular kozhakattais – Or modaks as our Hindi friends would like it to be called. The fact that something so awesome can be made with rice powder, jaggery and coconuts still baffles me. I would gobble down at least 12 kozhakattais right now if I had access to them.
Semia Payasam – There’s no better dessert than well made semia payasam with the correct proportion of vermicelli, sugar and milk in it. Add some cashew nuts (roasted in ghee) and some elaichi powder and you have made my day.
Avial - Now humans still have to come up with a dish which beats the Avial to mix with good ol’ white rice and eat. The fact that this dish has almost all my favorite veggies in it adds the icing on the cake, so to speak.
Filter Kaapi – I simply have to have my one cuppa filter kaapi sometime in the day. This drink has the ability to change my mood, reduce tensions, kill my headaches, all at the same time instantaneously.

Four websites I visit daily

A journey called life – Now this daily dose of mothering incidents and advice from a good friend is what keeps me grounded, and makes me look forward to parenting at some point of time in the future.
Facebook - This social networking tool has moved beyond just a means of keeping in touch with friends from IIM Indore. Some of the apps here, and the groups here can keep me occupied for more than just a few hours. Sigh, I wish I had more time to spend on Facebook than I already do.
Wikipedia - I almost always find something or the other which is interesting enough here. The fact that this is a treasure trove of information apart, this site has the amazing ability to keep pulling people back into its fold almost everyday.
Twitter - Have started tweeting more seriously and more regularly recently. Follow me – jairammohan

Four places I’d rather be

Although I have always maintained that I’d rather be me than anybody or anywhere else, for the purposes of this tag, here goes -
Bangalore - For almost everything associated with this city, good and bad.
London - For the sheer awesomeness of the public transport facilities provided here.
Mumbai - Just to see if I can live a robotic, mechanical life like the people there already do.
Palakkad - Just for the serenity and quiet that this place has to offer even during weekdays.

Four things I hope to do before I die

Appear on the cover of Businessworld or some other Indian business magazine.
Author a novel or a book of short stories.
Get to actually meet Kamal Haasan and spend at least 2-3 hrs with him.
Get to conduct a Quiz which is televised and telecast all over the country.

Four novels I wish I was reading for the first time

The Last Emperor
If God were a banker
Married but arrogant
The House of Blue Mangoes

Four movies that I can watch over and over again

The Dark Knight
Michael Madana Kamarajan (Tamil movie)
Forrest Gump
Terminator 2 : Judgment Day

Four people I want to tag

Sreeram
Bhasky
Kavi
KarSub

Cheers……….Jam

I wanted to be…

Rads in her blogazine has tagged all the readers of this particular post to put up the list of persons or professionals that we all wanted to be at some point in time or the other with the rationale for the same. So here comes my list of ‘wannabe people or professionals’ -

1. A pilot, coz I always thought it was cool to fly around those big commercial airliners.

2. A fighter pilot, coz I absolutely loved Tom Cruise in Top Gun, and thought I would be particularly useful in those ‘dogfight’ situations in air.

3. Rajiv Gandhi, coz he always looked so handsome and composed on television (Black and White BPL TV, mind you).

4. Michael Jackson, coz I could grab my crotch and let out a girlish scream whenever I wanted to, without people minding too much.

5. An Army Officer, coz I absolutely loved the Commando series of comics, and thought that I would have been useful to the Allied Forces during WW-II

6. A cricketer, coz I could bowl a mean outswinger, hit those wonderful long sixes, and hit the stumps when fielding from the boundary.

7. A DJ, coz I had this thing for ‘House Music’, which btw I still love.

8. A software engineer, coz I have a trait for logical and analytical thinking.

9. A HR Manager, coz I think I have what it takes to understand people issues and resolve them without antagonizing either the company or the associate.

10. A nice guy, coz although ‘nice guys finish last’, they end up feeling good about themselves.

So continuing with this tag, if you’ve read this post, it becomes almost mandatory that you put up a similar post on your blog and leave behind the link in the comments to this post.

Cheers………Jam

Quick update

PS: The earlier short story “Reminiscences” was also by the Missus. Direct all your compliments to her.

Reminiscences – A short story

Govindan Sr. was overjoyed that his favorite grand daughter has come home along with her husband. As soon as she came home, she barged into his room saying Thatha, and gave him a tight hug. At 86 years, these small things meant a lot more to him than most other things.

Govindan Sr. and his wife who was 80 years old herself, now stay along with their son Krishnan, daughter- in-law and grandson in Bangalore. Though he is thankful to God to have survived two heart attacks, and now spends more time with his wife, sons, and grandsons, he feels that he has had enough of life and that its time to move on. His son is a well-to-do businessman in Bangalore and has been good to him.

He remembers staying with his second son, Raman for two months last year and how he used to complain that Appa always talks about food. He thought that probably when people are old they do not dwell on world news, but rather on the news surrounding them. He felt he wanted to talk his heart out to somebody but nobody was ready to listen. But there was nobody to blame as everyone was caught up in their own lives trying to eke out a living. Sometimes he felt that Raman and Krishnan could have spent more time with him, or at least enquire whether he’s had his dinner or lunch.

Krishnan used to come home at unearthly hours and had to make frequent business trips to Pune and Calcutta. When he was at home, he was always glued to the television, mostly to AXN or HBO. He had no time to speak to Appa or Amma. But Govindan Sr. knows that Krishnan loves him though he has not expressed this in words.

Govindan Sr.’s thoughts also went back to his four daughters, one of whom was living a hard life; he could never forgive himself for making that mistake of arranging a marriage which didn’t work out in any way. But he had reconciled to the fact that his daughter now had to take the decision herself, whether to live her life out or cry over her bad luck.

He had received twelve lakhs as gratuity/provident fund when he had retired; he now lived a comfortable life with a little money to spare. He had written his will, and was happy that he didn’t have enough money for his children to fight over.

Krishnan is on a flight from Mumbai to Bangalore; he had reached an hour earlier and was waiting for the flight announcement. He had forgotten to take anything to read and as he is not very comfortable with electronic gadgets like the IPod or IPhone, he was just wondering how to kill time. This got him thinking about his life, his daughter was well settled in Mumbai, his son got a job through campus placement, and in fact he was lucky that he never had to worry about their studies or careers as both excelled in academics. He thought about his sisters, how they were always in touch with him and were well-wishers; he was happy that the sibling relationship wasn’t fractured by wealth or property as his father never really had that much of either.

Appa worked in a factory in Trichi; he was a “matriculate” and handled Clerical work in the factory. Krishnan remembered his pre-degree days when he had failed to pass in ‘Tamil’ and due to “moderation”, 5 marks were added to his meager marks of 35 and he was declared “pass”. Due to moderation marks, even though he scored good marks in other subjects he didn’t fit in the category of first/second/third class. Appa had to call on all his contacts in the factory and otherwise, to secure his son a BSc admission, that too not in a group he was in favor of, “Chemistry”. He was more interested in Physics.

After BSc, he remembers Appa sending him to Chennai for CA Articleship and how he used to spend the money Appa used to send, on movies and theatre; he was never really into studies. Somebody from Appa’s factory informed him of his son’s apparent negligence of studies and he was sent back to his hometown “Tiruchi”. Appa again went to see another friend of his, and he got his first job in Bangalore. But never did he complain how his hard-earned money was wasted without responsibility. He came back from Bangalore after a short stint of two months, as he didn’t like the system there. Finally Appa got him a job in Tiruchi itself.

If Appa had thought that Krishnan was no good at studies and stopped his education, he never would have reached this level. He never could have afforded the luxurious life he has now; he could never have educated his daughter and son in the IITs and IIMs. He thought about the last time he sat and actually spoke to Appa, it was shocking that he couldn’t remember it. He vowed that he was going to spend more time with Appa and Amma and was suddenly shaken out of his thoughts by the boarding announcement for his flight.

Inside the aircraft, the announcement came to switch off all electronic devices and mobile phones. He fumbled with his phone and found that he’s got a missed call from his wife. As his phone was in silent mode, he had missed the call; he immediately called up his wife. Appa had passed on to the heavenly abode after his third heart attack. Krishnan was too late to even say a “Thank You”.

Short story by the Missus

Well, the Missus finally decided to exercise her grey cells and her fingers at the same time for more creative things than work. So here goes her first attempt at a short story. Be warned, it contains more than a few IT and Computer related terms, so this would qualify as a ‘techno-creative’ short story.

Today seems to be a worst day to be in production support. One application isn’t working as expected and the traders as well as other financial analysts seem to want the risk numbers asap. There are about 6 communicator chats going on at the same time, and somehow am able to multitask chatting, shouting to team members,checking logs etc. On one side the trader chatting, another involving our local team members catching up with the updates, another with London/US team members who would like to know what the status of the issue is. Since my hubby also works in the same office, am chatting with him also in the middle of all this mess up.

5 windows

Trader : Let me know when can I have the numbers??

Me : Yup, shd be ready in a minute

Financial analyst who helps the trader

RK : whats the status please, the market has moved badly

Me : on it.

Local chat

AA : Finally I’ve restarted the app, will send an email now.

Me : tell the trader immediately man. Raise a blah blah…(all process oriented)

London team member chat

AB : Well, CD (trader) called me just now (He sounds not-too-happy-about-things)

Me:

Hubby: I have a call till 8.30 today.

Me : WTF

Well, finally after the issue got solved, I was in the process of closing all unnecessary windows. I saw one mysterious chat window that somehow failed be noticed before.

HR(Human Resource): Hi

Me:(No response)

HR:Hi, am Priya from HR, can you give me the expansion of your last name so that I can update the records? looks like we don’t have it.

Me : WTF (After seeing this chat)

Me: Actually its Venkatakrishnan.

HR: That was supposed to be in another window (smiley)

Me:Embarrased smiley

To explain software terms

Issue- Application not working

Numbers- Certain numbers that traders need to buy/sell new stocks

Communicator-Microsoft product used for instant messaging.

To explain some of the terms used in this story –

Issue- Application not working

Numbers- Certain numbers that traders need to buy/sell new stocks

Communicator-Microsoft product used for instant messaging.

Today seems to be athe worst day to be in the  Production Support Team. One application isn’t working as expected and the traders as well as other financial analysts seem to want the risk numbers ASAP. There are about 6 Communicator chats going on at the same time, and somehow am able to multi-task chatting, shouting to team members, checking logs etc. On one side there is the trader chatting, on another I am involving our local team members catching up with the updates, on another I am with London/US team members who would like to know what the status of the issue is. Since my hubby also works in the same office, am chatting with him also in the middle of all this mess.

5 windows

Trader : Let me know when can I have the numbers??

Me : Yup, shd be ready in a minute

Financial analyst who helps the trader

RK : whats the status please, the market has moved badly

Me : on it.

Local chat

AA : Finally I’ve restarted the app, will send an email now.

Me : tell the trader immediately man. Raise a blah blah…(all process oriented)

London team member chat

AB : Well, CD (trader) called me just now (He sounds not-too-happy-about-things)

Me:

Hubby: I have a call till 8.30 today.

Me : WTF

Well, finally after the issue got solved, I was in the process of closing all unnecessary windows. I saw one mysterious chat window that somehow failed to be noticed before.

HR(Human Resource): Hi

Me:(No response)

HR:Hi, am Priya from HR, can you give me the expansion of your last name so that I can update the records? looks like we don’t have it.

Me : WTF (After seeing this chat)

Me: Actually its Venkatakrishnan.

HR: That was supposed to be in another window (smiley)

Me:Embarrased smiley

Well, the sad part about the story is that most of it sounds like fact to me rather than fiction. And yes, the Missus is quite embarrased about the tongue-twisting surname. She prefers it to be just “V” than the whole name.

Dare to dream beyond the IIMs

“Dare to dream beyond the IIMs” they say, “India’s Global B-School” they say, “Free laptops for every student” they say, “Absolute horsec**p” I say!!!!

Ever since this well known (or is it notorious) Indian B-School started publishing their ads in newspapers I was mighty angry and pissed off. For good reason I must add. Let us for a moment forget the fact that I am from IIM Indore myself, and let me put myself in my own shoes around early 2003. This was the time that I had decided to do a Post Graduate course in Business Management and was looking around trying to decide what the good B-Schools in the country were, after the IIMs, of course. Now I was internet-savvy and also had the luxury of being in a group of reasonably well informed friends and well-wishers.

Contrast this to the teeming thousands of bright students from Tier II and Tier III cities and towns of the country. All of them are on the lookout for that additional degree to give them that edge over the blinding competition in the job market. And when leading newspapers carry ads such as the ones that I mentioned, a good number of them are bound to fall for them.

Careers360, a new newsmagazine has come out with its findings on this ‘wonderful Global Indian B-School’ in this article. Read, share and spread the word around about the farce that this is all about.

Wonder when Indians will learn the true value of honesty and the long term gains that it brings to the table.

Cheers………Jam