Expect the unexepected..

I had joined D Skul with lots of expectations. One of those was to have great faculty adding immense value to my knowledge base. This dream was shattered in the very first Sem. Thus as i made my way to a T&D class in Sem 3, I had packed myself with all the reading material reqd to survive a mundane 1 hr 50 mins. The reputation of the faculty didn't help much.He was know to describe a single slide for 40 odd mins.

As i made my way to class, 30 mins late as usual, i was informed in JP that Varun has obliged us with his presence today ( assured fun). i walked in and took my place next to him. Paying no heeds to what was being taught, i resumed reading "stay hungry stay foolish." I could hear now and then words like "interpersonal skills" and "role play" being thrown here and there, but i was very sure that they would be out of context and hence didn't bother myself much with it.

Luckily or unluckily, i had the faculty exclaiming" if you dont have good interpersonal skills, you will fail.." and then i saw the bugger, Varun on my right raising his hand. I was sure he is now gona take the faculty's "case" but what happened next was something i could never have thought about.

Varun as usual challenged the notion citing examples of Dreamworks and GE. The faculty got flabbergasted and the rest of the class joined in. Sir went about trying to explain that HR is a social science and nothing is fixed in it. Its all related. He got super agitated and the entire class started having fun. The phrase" interpersonal skills" was thrown about as if it was some clothing material in a relief camp. Varun relentless in his pursuit, made Sir finally exclaim," bhawnao ko samjho, sabdo me na jao"

  
There came a time when Sir and Varun got introduced as boxers taking part in a bout :) The conversation then drifted to the present condition of the education system and organizational politics where each one tries to bring down another. and this is a point I thought that," this man is actually making some sense for a change!"

Then we had himanshu's input that every battle and fight is caused because of "jameen, jayadadh or jodu.."  the conversation made rounds about Mahabharat and cases behind the epic war. How basic are facts in life which cause such trauma to people. When i know that something belongs to me, and all of a sudden is handed over to someone else, i would fight for it and thus was the case with Duryodhan and Hastinapur. Himanshu disagreed to it and believed Mahabharat was all because of Dropadi :p

We had Anirudh's recent trauma somewhere in the middle too and reiteration of the point that students from science background  are more stubborn in nature.

The entire episode was later restated as a Sensitivity training by Sir ( what a joke !!!) Was it or was it not, is something which is debatable. atleast one thing is for sure is that i was entertained.
  "yaar neend toh nahi aayi ekdum!!!"                                                                                   

Dream London- Really?

This article has been in the pipeline for a long while now. Dates back to my summer internship days in Kolkata. Few bengalis, proud "Kolkata baashis " ( Calcutta residents) may get offended too, so I request them not to read  anymore.

13th May, 2011, history is made in West Bengal. After 33 years of colonial Left rule, Ms. Bannerjee's TMC comes to the power. Strong, heart felt promises are made. One of the most outrageous ones being transforming Kolkata into London in the near future. Really?

15th July,2011 : Its been almost 2 months or 61 days or 87840 mins since Ms.Bannerjee's party have made inroads in the Writer's Building. As i make my way back from office, nothing has changed, absolutely nothing. A lot of hue and cry is made about Singur in the last few days and one can find the new sports minister giving close-ups in every channel. But the common man suffers the same harassment, same torment!

Being based out of Delhi for the last year or so, I feel sad when I come back to Kol and realize how much the city promises and what it actually delivers. Nothing increases my agony more than the pathetic condition prevalent in Kol metros. Agreed infrastructure will take considerable time, but the people in charge, they can change, or at least try to change.

Stuck in a long ticket counter queue for almost an hour, I make my way to the counter to find the attendant's seat empty. The attendant has apparently gone inside to bring ticket roll ( those days paper tickets were still in existence) and hasn't been back for the last 50 mins. Furious i decide to lodge a complain to the station master. As i enter the station master's room, I see a middle-aged man badmouthing a young boy and girl in filthy road side language. I am taken aback and soon realize its the station master himself. His shirt buttons are almost all open and only at times does he replace the *beep beep* with nouns and pronouns. I inform him of the condition outside and is blessed with few *beep beep* myself. He threatens to stop giving tickets to any1, if i dont get out of his room in next 5 mins. I tell him that at least consider bout those 100 people who are suffering in the heat outside ( Kol metros dont have AC, some have what looks like AC but wish they worked ), to be reprimanded again that everyone has to suffer as the CITY has no savior.  His name is "S.DAS," a name i will never forget, i face i wish to.

I dont know whether the city will be London or not, but i will be happy if only humans treat others as humans. The people in power should talk to the common man, understand his problems. The name of the state is not an issue, the administrative people in charge are.

"A Bengali who wants to be proud again!"