You know you are graduating when..

Pic courtesy Google Images

Five Point Someone - The Play

There is something called overkill. After the novel and the film, the story of 3 idiots screwing up bad at an engineering college, and pissing off one of the head professors has lost its charm. Still, I was looking forward to it because I thought this could make for an interesting drama on stage if played out nicely. I knew the actors are not professionals yet and that the acting troupe Evam is but only a promising venture yet. But I was expecting more given that the NCPA had it on.

Entry for Cleartip "Every trip has a Purpose" Contest

I had always been an average guy blessed with more than average things in life – a good education, a highly supportive family and good friends. But what I missed in my life was that it was too normal and hence probably getting too mundane. Now, was the time to do something different, to follow my passion, to try things out. Having no other source of information, I turned to the internet and blessed be me that I chanced upon this extraordinary trip:

1 Train | 13 Destinations | 15 Role Models | 18 Days | 400 Youths | 9000 kms

Of course, I was intrigued. This sounded just like the kind of thing I would want to do. An adventure with a purpose!

Tata Jagriti Yatra is an annual 18-day train journey across India aimed to awaken the spirit of entrepreneurship among the youth who could drive the wagon of change through enterprise led development. A journey to understand the problems of the middle India and to find solutions to those problems. A journey meant to re-discover India and the Indian within, to inspire the youth, through exposure to unsung heroes, and to motivate them to make an impact in their own domains.

It was not just about trying out different things for me anymore. My purpose for this fantastic trip became to re-evaluate myself, to discover my passion, to gain new perspectives on things in life. My purpose became to interact with this most diverse set of 399 youths who have the vision and the passion to be the stalwarts of change. It promised, and did turn out as well, to be an intellectually stimulating journey of learnings and un-learnings and of humble realizations - a journey through my inner self.

That was my purpose to be on this trip – the Tata Jagriti Yatra from 24^th December, 2010 to 11^th January, 2011. If you liked knowing about my purpose to be on this trip, do vote for me at http://mypurpose.cleartrip.com/trips/21419

Kyunki har trip kuch kehta hai...

The 9000

Here's the route of our 9000km journey (Delhi to London is only a little over 9000 km). Lot of ground covered, both literally and figuratively!

Ambanis vs Tatas - The Ethical Debate

Paraphrasing G. Vijayraghavan, founder of the first IT park of the country, "The ministers are corrupt because we, the people, make them corrupt." The realization struck me for the first time that day. The logic really was that simple. The act though wasn't. The opportunity costs, as we perceive, is too high for us to be ethical in our actions. And, we have internalized the 'easier' way out. We choose a 500 bribe for a 10,000 profit because it seems only logical to us. 500 is only a small amount after all, right?

Tata Jagriti Yatra: A journey across the country, A journey through my inner self

1 Train | 13 Destinations | 15 Role Models

18 Days | 400 Youths | 9000 kms

Logos - What makes them tick!

Airtel spend over Rs. 300 crore for its rebranding exercise. Majorly, it involved the adoption of the new logo for the group. Made me think what makes a logo tick!

Much ado about nothing?

An empty train compartment

An empty train compartment on a long train journey is probably the best thing that can happen to you. Especially if you don't have a book to keep you company and all you have to spend those 32 long hours is a laptop and a mobile which plays good music. Both of these, however, have limited power backup.