Greek, Latin and a Million Dreams!

There are times, when you put a lot of enthusiasm into a project or a case study, but things dont always have to work out in your favour. I seem to be having quite a lot of problems deciphering questions on tests. You feel deflated when some of the questions seem greek and latin, and you realise that the whole night went by without any use, even though one has put so much effort for tests. A few more tests like this and it could be like driving a bike through a road of rusted nails always. 3 terms over and I have just stepped into term 4.


The Past week went off so quickly. After a Bangalored Weekend on September 1st,which was eventful for the following reasons- ESPN STAR CRICKET DREAM JOB, BANGALORE AUDITIONS, DAY 2

7 am: I get up at Prasanna's house.

7 20 am: All set to leave Malleshwaram, and I have no cash, and Prasanna fills my purse with 2 hundered rupee notes.

7 21 am: I get an Auto and ask it to go directly to St John's Auditorium, which takes a lovely fresh morning ride and at the stroke of 8 I am at the place with a suitcase and a laptop bag

8 01 am: Tempted to taste the Bangalore Sambhar, as I was feeling hungry.

8 20 am. The ESPN team asks me to wait outside the gate and the folks who have come with all dreams and ambitions (me too!) feel neglected


Mera Number Kab Ayega?


Waiting till Eternity... for the Gates to open

9 20 am: We are still waiting near the Gate while the walk in starts, and to pass time, I see the ESPN anchors interviewing some candidates from yesterday's selected list. Giving an Interview is a Mallu B school Professor, and a Die Hard cricket grandad from Tiruchi


Thats the Mallu B School Prof being Interviewed



Nothing More looked surreal than Shaan's song

Ankhon mein Sapne Liye

Ghar Se Ham Chaal to Diye

Jaane Ye Raahen Ab Le Jayegi Kahan

Mitti ki Khushbu Aye

Palkon mein Asoon Laye

Palkon pein Rah Jayega Yadon ki Jahaan

Manzil Nayi hain, Anjaana Hain Karvan

Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar,

Dhoonde Tujhe, Phir Kyun Nazar


Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar

9 30 am: I get entertained when a presenter decides to do "bytes" with me. I might come on ESPN when they telecast the Dream Job, Bangalore Auditions

10 am: Finally, I get to go inside St. Johns College...but have just moved 5 mts from the gate, and thats when Gaurav, the former Channel [V] Vj spots me with my luggage and asks me a few questions on the journey so far. 2 Interviews in 30 minutes, not bad.... celebritydom calling heh!!

10 30 am: Allowed to park my rather tired legs inside the auditorium, but since they have focus lights all over the place, the room is like a cinder. They keep playing cricket and footbal clips in repeated mode for folks to practise, before their turn comes.


11 am: The first 2 contestants are through, while the next 10 are not. Getting insider info from candidates that judges are tough and award a green card only if a majority like the tone and confidence of the commentary. The judging panel is Mandira Bedi, Steve of ESPN Sportscenter International and Sheryl, a producer of ESPN Sportscenter.


12 pm: Hunger Strikes

1 pm: Nature's call, stomach stops rumbling

2 pm: Frustrated, create a scene with the officials about delayed time. They seem to get things done faster, but nothing really improves.

3 pm: All I want is a glimpse of Mandira Bedi, thats enough for me to say "take-aways from the Babe-a-lore trip"

3 46 pm: Kartik Kannan, where are You.... My Name is on every one's lips, as my turn comes next, and I snake through quietly to backstage as the producers of the show seem tense and nervous and pass on instructions to me, to stand at a point, and hold the mike at an angle. This instruction is repeated 10 times and at 3 55 pm, Folks.... Kartik Kannan is greeted with a genial smile from Mandira Bedi...and once Mandira smiles at you, with her V Cut dress, I start to melt..

A few questions on Blogging( Thankfully, I do this in every interview to confuse the interviewer and make them ask questions on that, the old ruse still works!!) and podcasting and the commentary bit of 30 seconds gets completed in 20 seconds as they seem to be pretty much ok with my voice and modulation. I get the coveted " GREEN CARD"


3 59 pm: VJ Gaurav meets me outside the hall for what would be my third interview


4 15 pm: The camera crew and anchors want to do a profile shoot with me, and I am encouraged to go on boasting till one of the studio lights goes Kaput. 4 interviews, no food, and NOT A bloated ego....thats a Cricket Fan for you....


5 15 pm, After scores of re takes, I give up and excuse myself for what would be my first morsel of food in quite a few hours...a samosa outside Koramangala BDA.


6: 00 pm: I take another auto heading to Bangalore Majestic, where I meet up with my friend Prasanna, and we rewind to our engineering college days, and as usual we have our dinner at "Hare Rama Hare Krishna", our favourite meeting place right next to the Railway Station Booking Office



Conversations around Dinner end up like this when the bill takes a little long to come.



I boarded a bus to Chennai and arrived on Sunday, the 2nd and quickly went home for a bath and was ready to go to ICFAI Business school, where I was invited as the guest faculty for taking a 90 minute session on E-Commerce and E business in the afternoon. The session went off very well, with no body sleeping in my session. That was a benchmark I generally observe. If folks sleep during a lecture, it might mean that the person delivering the lecture is not really making an eddort to connect with the audience. The only occaisson I remember people dozing and waiting to get out was a Lecture I delivered in early 2006, at the Rotary Club in Boat Club Road, on Corporate Blogging, where a bunch of 50 plus men, were all set for the booze booty that was awaiting them.


Soon after the lecture and a few accolades, I went home and slept like a log.The Week started with the usual hectic lecture and in this melee of ESPN Dream Job, I missed a Chinese test at college and I have to get another date to take the test.

2 Tests scheduled last week,MANAC 2 and FIN MAN2 and both have been moderately bad, and today's Marketing reasearch paper took the cake as it was a statistics paper in disguise that was waiting to a heap a rude massacre on most of the students. You feel like a worn out and overused socks at the end of such question papers, but today was different, as one glance at the paper revealed, It was instant death.


The Paper said it was 70 minutes long ....and here I was feeling for the first time that we had been allocated overtime for a question paper, and come to think of 70 minutes( Sattar in Hindi), I was reminded of Shah Rukh Khan's speech in Chak De India, ..... and rephrased it in my own words as I was glumly staring at the question paper.


Sattar Minut Hain Tere Paas


Shayad


Tumhari Zindagi ke sabse "Khaas" Sattar Minut


Aaj tum Acha mark karo ya Bura,


Yeh Sattar Minut tumhe zindagi Bhar Yaad Rahenge ( Kyun Nahi....? )


Kaise Mark score karna, Aaj tumhe koi nahi baatayega( Oye ! Kisne Padha Hain?)


Jao


Yeh Sattar Minut Jee Bharkar Mark Karo...aur Khoob Maro


I couldnt help laughing.... but just to get facts right, I used only 20 minutes, before I gave up my paper, as it was tough using probability to answer questions of the True or False Type...

There ends a week, a long one, that started with a milion dreams of Celebritydom, and soon nadir followed with the three tests. 5 weeks to go before I become a 50% MBA.