Alter Ego

Has your Zodiac sign changed...if it has then what’s your Rashee??

2011-01-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

You thought there were 12 zodiac signs...Say hello to Ophiuchus, Zodiac No. 13.

Therefore the calendar now is:
Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: Mar. 11- Apr. 18
Aries: Apr. 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20

So what are Ophiuchus’ characteristic traits?

Those born in Ophiuchus are said to be honest, intellectual, sexually magnetic, prone to change and jealous.

Well, Ophiuchus is not a new sign... It's been around for ages. It used to be counted between Scorpio and Sagittarius. But it was discarded by the Babylonians because they wanted 12 signs per year.

It basically implies that the signs people were born under are different now because the Earth's wobble on its axis created a one-month bump in the alignment of stars and there is a buzz among people about losing the signs with which they have identified themselves for years.

Same is the case with me now...i had identified myself as a true Libran all along (though my ‘kundali’ mentioned me as a Capricorn...lol)...but now i am utterly confused. This new change has made me a Virgo...:(

So i am compelled to think does it really matter what zodiac signs we belong to...we are what we are and an association with a sign just doesn’t change it all.

Happy finding your horoscope!!!

Santa Claus

2010-12-25T05:14:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone...its seems that the writer’s block had taken over me yet again...the reason why i am blogging after eons...

Well one of the reason for doing it now is that i have a 3 days holiday at stretch (which is such a rarity at IMNU) and am so luving it...all this tym...just to myself...doing all that i luv doing...sleeping, movies, sports...loads of it (finally tried tennis which i had so been yearning to play...its nice) and ofcourse reading (novels yaar) & writing... so here i am!!!

My few frnds have gone to local places like Diu and Udaipur for a trip and break away 4m the routine hectic MBA schedule...but i like solitude once in a while (have always been somewhat of a loner :D) so...

Secondly i wanted to dedicate this day (Christmas Day) to my dad...the person who had been a "santa claus" to me all my lyf... He is the best dad in the world...selflessly fulfilling all my silly stupid stubborn demands...infact giving me more than i had asked for... luv u papa :)

He has nvr underestimated me, has supported me through all my lyf’s decisions, motivating me...and most of all always making me believe that i am no less to anyone in any sphere, inspite of being a girl . No wonder, thanks to my upbringing...i am so against male chauvinistic attitudes...:P

Just as we grow up believing in fairy tales, we too believe that santa claus is for real...i have infact done the insane ritual of tucking a gift wrapped in socks under my pillow on Christmas eve as a kid in the hope that santa would gift me back something...though i had got gifts a couple of times but it was not from the fictional santa...but the real one...my dad :)

Sometimes it simply takes an eyeopener for us to realize what we have and had not appreciated fully... its tym we grow up and look around towards real people who have made a difference in our lives with their love, support and generosity.

Merry Christmas!!! :)

Love actually

2009-08-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

God gave us love......

In the cuddle of a mother

In the affection of a father

In the hug of a friend

In the care of a sibling

In the kiss of a dear

And.....in so many life’s simple things!!!

Love is the most beautiful feeling. Being in love makes the world seem colourful, the air fragrant, the noise music, the breeze hypnotising and the heart beat......ohhhh only if the heart is there anymore!!! :D

Biochemically, it is no different from eating large quantities of chocolate and being in love gives you an all time high. One is so happy all the time, even when you are not with your loved one.

Not being near him is actually the catch. It makes you realise that it is not just a mere mistaken infatuation which usually develops because you are close to the person, see and meet him every day, have become habituated to him......& the remnants of which would fade in course of time. Love is a strong term and a stronger emotion. It runs deeper than the thousands of miles between. It doesn’t matter if you get to hear or meet him only after all your lucky stars have conspired for you (which of course is such a rarity). :)

The following words are so true:

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it does not keep record of when it has been wronged. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.”

Love is blind because when in love nothing else really matters. You do everything possible for him with a top priority in your life. However busy you might be or important project you are working on, being with him is the only natural and logical thing to do. Your heart is definitely not listening to your brain!!! The whole system goes haywire....your mind says to be patient & calm and let things take its own course but then your heart disagrees. It wants to grab whatever opportunity it gets and create new ones to seek company of whom it so yearns for. Imagine the soul that is torn between the two. One gets bedazzled by so many feelings & emotions....the euphoria, the joy, the confusion, the agony & the fear.

Love is the most simple and basic feeling but bizarrely the most difficult to express. Even a small gesture or expression to show that one sincerely cares and that you matter to somebody becomes so difficult to put across. Huh!!

Someone rightly said “Love makes a fool out of everyone...but those who can take intelligent decision even in the state of foolishness are the happiest human beings.”

“To love is nothing

To be loved is something

And to love and be loved is everything.”

P.S: Love can be described in a million different ways but nothing beats experiencing it.

Bunking feat

2009-06-23T10:01:00.001-07:00

I am blogging after a long time now.....was busy with my exams and getting my internship confirmed. Then got busy with the internship. Oh not because I am sincerely working or slogging, rather was just devising ways of escaping it.

An honest confession, I am so not enjoying it....just want it to get over and go back home. What else did you expect...working in mumbai is difficult or rather torturous. I sincerely admire people who commute such distances spending 1/4^th of their time in local trains. Their day starts at probably 5 in the morning,travelling at 7, reaching office by 9.....again leaving at 5,7 or 8 whatever depending on their schedule , reaching home by 10 or 11....don’t know when and how much time they get to rest after that. And it not just about rest......what kind of life is this!!! Well I am doing the same these days though. Not that I haven’t travelled this much before for internships but those were just for 15 days or so, now it is for 2 months and moreover the charm of internship and working in a company has worn off.

Local train compartments are a scene and esp. the ladies compartment. People pray and sing bhajans in the local train, some even have a group for this (one tends to know each other at least by face if one follows the same schedule and travel regularly & become what they call a “train mate”). Also tit-bit shopping is a regular chore, at least veggies (even I have done it on and off). The added spice is the constant bickering over trivial issues.... uh women!!! It is annoying and hilarious at the same time.

The route that I take is pretty good but kurla and vadala routes are overtly over crowded, one gets crushed to death and you automatically get pushed out of the train to the platform (only if you had your skates on you would smoothly roll to the exit). This is not it....the smell...no it is the stink of fish mixed with sweat which nauseates me, adding to my malaise. The first thing after coming back is taking a bath. Oh did I make my life sound like a living hell....well no I am even enjoying the experience....this is life too, isn’t it?? Though can’t really be sure of liking it.

Not going into details about my schedule which is fairly erratic and not much of consequence, I detest having to travel so much.....initially my health too gave away (not supposed to exert much for health reasons). But then got habituated or rather, still in the process. Given a choice I would never prefer working in Mumbai, at least not when I have to commute so much. I would like a personal chauffeur driven car, like a door to door service. ;)

So presently when all I can do is dream of such sweet possibilities, I have adopted 4 days a week policy interim i.e. resorting to malingering by bunking 2 day with great alacrity (Sunday is already a holiday) and devising as many and new excuses as possible. For example: hand bandaged....met with an accident (forget it, we said the auto rickshaw overturned.......w t f!!!)....meeting our college mentor and discussing the project....was visiting library to refer books.....I was sick my partner was sick by turns....

However flagrant our actions might seem, we are cognizant of our responsibilities. It’s just that we believe in smart work rather than hard work (how clichéd!). Seriously, we are working on the document and researching for the project at home and in library. (What! don’t laugh....: x, respect my exhibited candor at least).

And then just as we were falling short of excuses (genuine or otherwise).....it rained!!! :)

P.S:

1) I hardly need to bluff now....!!! Suffering from conjunctivitis. :(

2) I just noticed that all my blogs are pretty mundane. Well don’t worry. Watch out 4 my next issue.....planning to write on love...whooohooo!!! ;): p

Program-O-Phobia

2009-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Just as all of us have favourite subjects, we too have a subject that we detest which more often than not seem to gain more importance due to our constant cursing it. Hereby I make a promulgation by dedicating this blog to the subject that I abhor the most which seem to gain enormous dimension and ubiquity due to this technology era where it has become absolutely indispensable. What is referred to as the boon of this century or maybe the millennium has become a bane for me. Still couldn’t guess what I am talking about???Oh common’ people...the ‘COMPUTERS’.

Not that I mind computer and its related technology entirely, in fact I love it as this has given way to internet and a galore of new opportunities; eg. the way I am able to communicate my distress to all through this blog (which I find cathartic), it is the programming languages that are too abstruse for me. I couldn’t even think of a proper word to describe my feelings towards it. I abhor it for sure but I also fear it (to the extent of phobia maybe) and am acerbic towards it. The computer programming languages(C, C++, Java, Web Technology-HTML & ASP) eludes me. My anguish is quite comparable to that of the little boy Ishan Awasthi from Taare Zameen Par who found the alphabets and numbers dancing in front of him. I find the syntaxes and coding doing the same to me though I am not dyslexic (Don’t mistake me for a computer engg student. I am pursuing fashion technology from NIFT and I absolutely fail to understand the reason for studying such nuisance, as if we had any dearth of subjects.)

Only if I have the option to forgo it I would be more than happy to do so. Once I did get such a glorious moment in std V when I realized after studying DOS, LOGO and BASIC for two years that this was just not my forte (though then also I could never mange more than the full definition.) ;) Subsequently I stopped making any effort in that direction until the time I came to NIFT where for some unfortunate reasons I am forced to study it in all semesters with a necessity to pass in the respective subjects as well. Phew!!! I have tried by all means (teachers & friends) and efforts but nothing seem to ameliorate my plight. Even though I swear by the adage that “Nothing is impossible”, THIS is an exception. My friends tell me that I am just being histrionic and have created a mental block which I refuse to overcome but after all the trying I have come to realise that my cerebrum simply lacks such acumen or whatever it takes to understand such nonsensical stuff.

All my concern now is to somehow manage to get through my semester exams and assignments just as I have till now (abysmally though) and after the last semester exam I will be rid of it for good.

Even though I can now manage the computer and its applications reasonably well, I do not have any motivation or interest for programming nor do I see any need for it. I like my life devoid of such hideous syntaxes and cryptics which unnecessarily complicates and clutters my simple and decoded life.

At present I am strugging with copious amounts of assignments in both web tech and java due for submission on 25^th april. So I should better get back to work now.

P.S:

1) This article is not intended to offend people who have a penchant for computer programming. This is just an account of my plight.

2) And yes of course I can do with some help if you intend to lend a helping hand. :P ;)

Battling Economy

2009-04-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well, finally here goes my first blog that I had been postponing ever since. Let me make my debut with the most talked about and capricious economic event of the decade, “The Recession” or the financial crisis. Though this is such an esoteric topic I would anyway try my hand AND BRAIN at it!!!

Starting off with “are we still reeling under the effects of it? And has recession even happened in India? et al. Look around you, everywhere we are daunted by this word and its debilitating effects. From price inflation of commodities to jobs being badly affected, the whole global business and economic scenario has foundered. And not just business, the education front has faltered too with college placements not inspiring either. The students who passed out this year are mostly without jobs, not forgetting that those with job have been rendered jobless. I, an apparel production student from NIFT, am in a dilemma regarding my internship because companies do not need any internees at the moment as they can't afford it. What d hell!!! A company as big as Raymond cant afford 2-3 students as internees for 2 months. Unimaginable!! The last internship which I did in Raymond Ltd., Textiles was an eye opener. An entire section(combing) of textiles was shut because of low export orders. Mind you, I am not being histrionic.

So this is how we are affected since US is the major market for exports from India (and RAYMOND as well). Starting in the early 2008 with BSE sensex points falling below 10,000 and as low as 8000pts, a consecutive result of USA’s housing loan policy gone haywire...the repercussions of which we all are facing. Now US created this mess and it only can clean it. I mean we all are looking up to US to get us out of this situation, aren’t we?? Of course, this was so evident from the headlines of all major and minor newspapers of India at the time of USA’s electoral campaigns. The front page read nothing other than the happenings of US’s elections for days on end with all other domestic and global issues taking a backseat or rather the back page. The only odr next big thing was the Satyam(maytas infrastructure) scam. I m sure Indians never had this amount of expectations from their own presidents n PMs like they have from Barack Obama. Phew....not bad!!!

But after all this hype, India still hasn’t faced recession and will not in all its likeliness in the near future with things looking up. Eg G-20 summit and likes happening.

Lets see what recession actually means. Literally speaking it is termed as an event when a country projects a negative or downward trend in growth for consecutive three quarters. Countries like India and China(developing nations)show a growth rate of 11-12% while developed countries like US and UK has a growth rate of 2%. There are reasons why India still hasn’t faced the nightmare while China, a close competitor is hit so hard. Here the analogy of developing countries doesn’t hold up because China depends a lot on its export market or rather absolutely and hence when US got hit by financial crisis , Chinese market suffered a huge setback. On the contrary, India focuses mainly on domestic market with its exports just showing up. The other premise being that the Indian financial system is very complex compared to other countries(as the companies are segmented into public and private sectors with the govt. Of india playing a major role in formulating the industrial laws). And if we hav failed to notice then none of the major business players of India has declared bankruptcy (like Lehmann brothers) apart from the Satyam fraud case. Therefore it can be said that India hasn’t faced recession though it might be suffering due to its related issues.

All we can hope for now is that this phase abates as soon as possible and bring wid it hosts of new opportunities. And in the meantime all of us can enrich ourselves and our lives with the knowledge and experience of such tumultuous times instead of just fretting over business and economy for a change. Pardon me if I am being quixotic.

P.S:

1) Plz do not castigate me for any errors in facts and figures as this would disparage the sole purpose of my writing this essay which was to just get an essence of recession in its entirety.

2) I welcome any comment or suggestions for improvement.

3) 2-3 eco-fundas , courtesy my friend, Utk.

**Hey congratulate me!! Raymond Apparel, Thane(Mumbai) confirmed. Yippee!!!