He would work all night, sleep all day and walk all the way to work by noon. Rugged with long hair he would tell tales of how his bike found its way back to the mechanic yet again and how the helmet developed a crack. He would sit over juice breaks and narrate how all he wanted to do was buy a Big Bike(Numbers bigger than R61) and someday just bike across asia and to europe. He was the free spirit, who had it in him to take the bike a single bag and go all the way to Kargil. Would narrate tales of the creativity of the folks at the Border Roads Organization. If I want to see Ladakh, Leh and lands beyond , its because of him. Promised to learn Snooker with me, he did learn… while I walked over to this place. RIP.

In the course of the two years that we spend here, we dedicate our time and efforts to several pursuits, some academic and several non academic. With each step that we take along this path, knowingly or unknowingly we move closer to our end objective of achieving our own personal goals. All along we are goaded and guided by several forces, some harsh and a few tender. Amongst these support systems are the infrastructure facilities available to us here within the campus. Probably when we look back at our days, as a snapshot from a period in time into the future – it would be these settings that would warm the recesses of our mind and seek to remind us of the beautiful place and the wonderful incidents that truly enriched two glorious years of our life here. Needless to say the theatre of most of these dreams would be the hostels!

Even as we go about doing our daily activities, we are fortunate to have the services of an extremely dedicated support staff – who meticulously go about their daily activities so that our essential services are available sans any disruption, minor or otherwise. Think of the folks who clear up all traces of midnight celebrations from the L^2, think of the folks who ensure that the corridors of our hostels remain clear from any debris from the previous night’s celebration. Think of the folks who you may never see, but who work in the background to ensure that life in hostel is as smooth as it can ever be. It’s a link between these folks and the student community that I seek to become as I humbly present myself as a candidate for the post of Hostel Secretary.

A man of vision creates castles and a man of action creates them on the ground. I would want to present myself as not someone who “promises the moon”, but someone who has the determination and zeal to see plans materialize into actions and into ground realities. I have had the privilege of working at close quarters with the present hostel secretary and I am aware of the nature of work that this position demands and the relationships I have built with folks at ground level – will undoubtedly hold me in good stead, if I am voted into this position of great responsibility.

I offer myself as candidate who is approachable to suggestions, reproaches, and means and alter means to fix a problem. For it’s in this magic of co-creation that a valuable two years of our hostel life exists. I humbly request you to do the needful, if you see promise in my words; and my promise is – I would strive my best to ensure that I don’t let you down.
Thanks,

Sathyanarayanan C

Its been a real long time(20+ years) and hate as I may to admit it - I still haven’t managed to. I am sorry to all those who I’ve let down - which includes primarily only myself. The walk ahead is beset with all the difficulties that the path this far was. Nevertheless time will be a quick healer. Might be I will survive, might be I will make that critical difference, might be I will just be a brick on a giant wall. But this far…I really havent made it. Holding back a few thoughts… I dont have the resolve of a Santiago to stand there and wait for the fish…

Did a decent task at learning Poker yesternight. Started at half past one yesternight and played all through the  night and beyond sunrise till Nine this morning. Even with little knowledge about the game, immediately realized why gambling is such an addictive indulgence!!! You lose, you want to put more at stake and try to make a comeback. You lose more in the process. You tell yourself … of course gambler’s fallacy exists, but there has to be a beginners’ luck and in no time you are down dark red.  As dawn progresses to dawn you wager more and play a few cards good to emerge even(almost even, actually). You tell yourself “phew, it has been quite a night!”. Clean poker, replete with those colored chips and rules consulted off wikipedia;, sans alcohol! It was a pleasant night. Except that I am not sure if my risk appetite would allow me to play again! On the table, I hear of narratives of high stake games happening not too far away - just a few blocks away. Gambling is exactly what they make it out to be. An indulgence that is not for the faint hearted. I shall stick to owning DLF, ICICI Bank and Reliance Power Shares(ok now I may as well buy RIL)

I go about the drab moments…almost with robotic repetitiveness…there are no variances…absolutely the same story everyday. Every look on the list of twenty five names… Its not a linear scan, I jump directly to the letter ’s’…thankfully that shortens my misery…I put on a bold face and walk past, the crowd of people still going about their scans… I try not to show my emotions…thankfully its night and except for the well spaced tube lights …you can choose to go into the shadow regions…maybe thats where I am hiding now…

But then, few things can still bring about a smile on your face…like this one…

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=nojrb4sBH20

In a few minutes the smile again vanishes pretty rapidly….I sit with the laptop…The things I can do are pretty limited.

Buildings rise, buildings fall. Empires rise, empires fall. Towers rise, towers fall. When a giant tree falls, the earth below is bound to shake!

At the end of a course we were given this poem. Even this…

Even This Shall Pass Away

Once in Persia reigned a King
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before the eyes,
Gave him counsel at a glance,
Fit for every change and chance.
Solemn words, and these are they:
“Even this shall pass away.”

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought his gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to match with these.
But he counted not his gain
Treasures of the mine or main;
“What is wealth?” the king would say;
“Even this shall pass away.”

In the revels of his court
At the zenith of the sport,
When the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests;
He amid his figs and wine,
Cried: “Oh loving friends of mine!
Pleasure comes but not to stay;
Even this shall pass away.”

Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield;
Soldiers with a loud lament
Bore him bleeding to his tent;
Groaning from his tortured side,
“Pain is hard to bear,” he cried,
“But with patience, day by day,
Even this shall pass away.”

Towering in the public square,
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue, carved in stone,
Then, the king, disguised, unknown,
Stood before his sculptured name
Musing meekly, “What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay
Even this shall pass away.”

Struck with palsy, sere and old,
Waiting at the gates of gold,
Said he with his dying breath;
“Life is done, but what is death?”
Then, in answer to the King,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray,
“Even this shall pass away.”

Theodore Tilton

Today as I was sitting in the class, while changes in Indian Polity from 1950 to the present were being discussed; a thought came in to my mind.

We always take pride in saying that India is a country, where inspite of all the differences, inspite of all the dissent - our democracy has survived and we beam with pride, when we compare this with our neighbours who so often slip into the other side with anarchy, coups and military dictators!

People attribute several reasons to this thriving of democracy. Some say its the prudence of the constitution drafters, some say its the structure that gives it the inherent stability of proces, while some say that we are a nation of such vast differences that we cant have one single military dictator landing in the scene who can carry the entire nation with him/her.

But just to think of it - could this have been the reason? - India’s lead of the Non Alignment Movement(NAM). This ensured that we kept away from any real alignment of our country with the US of A or in the old days USSR. Therefore, our military establishment didnt get that might - which they would have got/assumed if there was any alignment of our military/foreign affairs strategy directly with that of the US. This would have given the generals greater power and we could have been part of plans - larger or otherwise to dethrow governments and replace them with mightier generals with covert(and sometimes not so very covert) Uncle Sam’s support!

The one thing I like about an MBA course is that it teaches you new words. You can talk more than just uttering the word “core competency” 13 times in a 17 sentence speech…

This one is called Gamblers Fallacy

Of How I go to every exam thinking that the past one was Bad… this one would definitely have to be better! And then you realize landing at the exam hall is a memory less process! Everytime!

Its not exotic dishes that you crave for. When you have been having rajma and dhal every day for close to a month now… its the humble rasam that you are dying to have!

If some one stays near Bannerghatta Road, and knows how to make rasam - the south Indian way, can you please have me over for lunch/dinner please.