Mock CAT

The CAT examination that was held on 20th November was more like a Mock CAT to me. I was totally unprepared for it. Okay, I know everybody says that, but I leave it to you to believe me or not. The day before the exams, the biggest headache was going to a shop, buying HB pencils(required for CAT) and then sharpening them. On the day of the exams, I woke up at 8:15, early by my usual Sunday standards. I got two plates of idli parceled from Upahar Nidhi, an Udipi restaurant on my street. One of them was for Keyur, who was also appearing for CAT. When I opened the parcel, which was covered in a newspaper, I was surprised to see this advertisement on the paper. It was a full page advertisement of a coaching class for CAT. There at the examination hall, my seat was on the last row, next to a window overlooking a chickoo tree. Almost everyone in the hall was wearing a frown on their face. The guy sitting next to me was sad. He did not even say a hi to me. I did not say a hi either. But that was because I did not like him. Actually I did not like anyone in the entire hall, except for the guy who sat in front of me. This guy who was wearing a wrinkled pista green coloured full sleeved shirt, sat in a relaxed posture, his arms resting on my seat. Before the exam started there was a complete silence in the hall and this guy broke it by tapping a pencil on the bench. People looked irritated because of this. I liked him for that. The other thing that I liked was the sweet voice making announcements like "All the best", "Please be seated" on the speaker. However as she kept on speaking, it seemed like a railway station, especially with the ding-dongs to start the announcements. When the paper finally arrived, it was as good as I expected it to be. I would have cracked the CAT were it not for the conspiracy hatched by the IIMs against me. Outside the window they planted beautiful girls, who made frequent appearances with their sole purpose being that to distract me. When the two hour paper ended, no one seemed relaxed. They were still frowning. Most of them would carry forward these frowns to the next CAT and then the next and then the next. And I will be there to blog it.

Things To Do Before I Am 30

After watching Things to Do Before You're 30, I am tempted to write a small list. Ofcourse you wont find the ones that you would probably be wanting to find, but those are more or less the same as the sleazy ones in your list(okay, like a few in the adjoining picture). Here is a fairly honest list. Please note that the list is not sorted on any particular parameter. That means, they are not ranked by importance or the temporal order in which I would like to carry them out.

-> Get transferred to Pune
-> Get out of the tech field, possibly jump to finance
-> Start a small business, not a software company
-> Get married
-> Learn to swim ( I learnt to cycle in April 2004 in my office campus)
-> Learn to iron clothes and comb my hair
-> Devote some time for a social cause
-> Learn to cook good food
-> Travel to Valley of flowers, Manali in particular and North India in general
-> Visit Taj Mahal

Getting Bangalored

Back to Bangalore, back to blogging. After 11 days of fun, frolic and good food in Bombay, I am back to Namma Bengaluru. Most evenings were spent at Marine Drive, Bandra Reclamation and Shivaji Park. I also went to Mohammed Ali Road with a schoolmate and had Chicken Red Kabab and Firni. Besides that, as always, I went for dinner at my grandparents' place. And that I have nothing exciting of that kind to do here, I am blogging ;-) That I am so nostalgic about Bombay, let me write about my fears of losing touch with Bombay...or rather the fear of getting Bangalored.

Incident 1 :
It was beyond midnight and we were returning home from Eighties. I completely forgot that there are BEST buses available at that hour too. That I was inebriated, is a different thing.

Incident 2 :
I was getting into the train with a bag strapped onto my shoulders. This obstructed some other passengers who wanted to get in. One of them shouted, " Itna bada bag lekar train main chadh raha hai"(he is getting into the train with such a huge bag). In my college days, I had mastered the art of getting into the crowded train without the bag getting trapped in the crowd. Anyway, I shouted back, "To kya bag lekar nahi jaane ka kya?"(So shouldn't I carry a bag in the train?). This reply proves that I have not completely lost touch with Bombay and Bombaygiri.

Back here, things are no good. The heavy rains that lashed Bangalore, have screwed the ceiling of my rented flat. There is fungus over my pillow(don't worry, I am not using it). After the nice 11 days and 5 days(from Oct 12 to Oct 16) that I spent in Bombay, I have arrived at this conclusion. Vacations should obey the Goldilocks Phenomenon -- they should neither be too short(a short vacation is no vacation) nor too long(damn difficult to adjust when you are back to work).

Blogging- Not A Priority For Now

There are so many things I have been doing here in Bombay, that I do not have the time to blog. Today morning at about 0130 hours, I was in no mood to blog, but was thinking of posting this very post. Thank you google for not having this service up then. You provided me with an excuse for not blogging. I will resume blogging sometime after I am back in Bangalore. Damn. Today is my last day in Bombay :-(