Finally! 3 months and 2 weeks of preparation and exams came to an end yesterday!( hopefully it is THE End!!). This is institute is one of its kind. After 75 years of establishment, they suddenly realise that it is a professional exam that they are conducting and hence made all the questions compulsary. Since I took up a new version of the exam( third exam in the new series) and hence no trend analysis worked. It was like walking into a dark room ( that is probably the strength of any exam). There was one day break between all the exams which made it more strenuous!! 14 days of tension! Now the wait begins. They take almost two months to declare the results. Meanwhile , I have all the work in office to keep me OCCUPIED!

These are the outcomes of the session I had recently attended.
1.Even training can extend to 8!!
2.Cost cutting is also done on food (lunch).
3.They do not have the time to conduct a session for 5 days!!
4.The trainers may or may not have knowledge.
5.We should have access to the reviewer material to really understand if they have understand!!
6.What took 10 yrs for them to understand, is expected to be learnt in 4 days!!
7.Apparently we are not COMPETENT enough to comprehend the teachings!!
8.They all have authority to shout and demand attention not command respect.
9.All participants are subject to harassment (Eg: finish break in 3 min!!, otherwise you will sit late in the night)-refer point 1.
10.We are told to attend the sessions with a lot of seriousness, but they have the AUTHORITY to scrap off whatever they don’t want to conduct(rather not patient enough to conduct).

But I have to accept that there were a few sessions which were enlightening but that was partly due to the nature of the topic and the level of participation.

In the book ‘The Alchemist’ , Paulo Coelho talks about how the world conspires to help us achieve our dreams.

Unfortunately, when I drive I feel the whole world is conspiring against me thus helping not to reach anywhere on time.

Ha! I know you are making a mental note to tell me that I should plan my day and start early. Fine , I do that on all normal days.

On Saturday, at around 10 a.m I drove to Besant Nagar form Adyar. It took me 1 hour. The reason??

Not even a VIP! Cars, vans and buses filled with young men going up and down the road for attending a rally. Well, initially I though it is to attend the rally but they were going on the both the directions of the road. I decided to take some shortcuts and reached the destination safely.

At 3 pm I drove back and much to my despair I found the roads still full. People were dancing because their party head had given a wonderful speech.

Women are universally acknowledged as bad drivers, so there is always this attitude to horn incorrigibly at the person before you especially if the guy there knows that the driver is a lady! That apart, I have seen many old men unable to start their car after a long signal. How I felt I should have put those dark glasses on my car.
These party men were worse than the any cab driver I have ever seen. They were so excited, rash and impatient.

And Lo! Next morning when I read the newspaper, I learnt that some 5 men had died due to an accident. What a sheer waste of LIFE!!

Rallies can be held, but atleast give them a particular route or something so that the rest of the crowd can chalk up some other route and reach their destination.

Well, its been a while since i blogged(quite obvoius from the date). Anyways , the reasons may be many, but truth is I have started procrastinating . Another reason could be the transfer of a friend of mine who had inspired me to start a blog. Well, more into the habit of procrastination, I feel it has terribly destroyed my life. I feel each day is just the same as the previous. I get up, do the daily chores , go to work and and after coming home i fall flat on the bed(whatever time it is) and sleep like a log. There are few reasons which may induce me to stay awake , a movie or maybe some discussions with my family. Despite the time I go to sleep, I am unable to get up before 7 a.m. Added to that, the days I am at home, I struggle to keep my eyes open by 4 pm in the evening. Every night I open some novel, and my eyes automatically close and I will take aon oath that I will finish the novel the next day. Another thing I postpone is wishing people. When I get up, I remember that it is someone's birthday and then I think that I will wish by 8 , then I say maybe after breakfast, then after I reach office, then maybe during lunch and then the it becomes 9 pm . Then too, unless I know the person very well, I don wish at that time. This has led to complete frustration and I have resolved to bring my life back to order within the next month. Yes, if you are wondering how I have come to a conclusion so soon, it is because of a friend who claimed that the blogs I write are extremely long. Well owe this one to you, my friend!

I have always felt the strong need to pursue some hobby consistently. Some people say that there is a particular talent that they possess on which they can always fall back on. Honestly, I have never pursued any hobby for more than four years. I do attain some level of perfection in the activity chosen to the extent that many people have told me..'A little more of practice and you are sure to be the best!' ahem..
By hobby, I am excluding reading books because I think that everyone should read books not only as a hobby but for gaining knowledge.
I just felt like tracing all the various activities that i have attempted, my highs, my so called growth and how 'The end of the activity' came about. I will still not call it the end as I am still harbouring hopes in my bosom that i will one day or the other accomplish the unfinished tasks!
I took up drawing and swimming classes around the same time. Let me first describe my attempts at drawing. I diligently attended classes for five years(From 2nd standard). Two of my close friends used to attend these classes with me and all us very motivated to draw!Infact we used to make our own cards and gift each other. Soon, studies took precedence and we could not regularly attend those classes. But we resolved to draw regularly. After a year all the ‘josh’ fizzled out and I very rarely drew. Nowadays I just restrict myself to glass painting (I have painted just about three pictures in two years). So, I cannot claim that I as pursuing drawing because I rarely indulge in it.
I must tell you that I always liked drawing and painting and hence I never felt frustrated while pursuing it. But swimming was a nightmare! I took up swimming lessons during first standard vacations. The classes were for two whole months (every morning). The incentive was that you could practice in the evening. Damn! I was so stubborn that I would simply not swim in front of my teacher. He hated me for that and I am sure that even today he will remember me and my kutti face. I did not detest him until he wanted us to jump from that plank on top. I know it must be nothing for most of you reading this. But I simply could not jump from that plank. I would go all the way to the tip of the plank and come back saying ‘No, I cannot take my feet off the plank.’ So, that man used to push me from behind which I did not mind. Thinking back, nobody would like to push someone into the pool! Even now, I can only swim but I cannot jump from anywhere. Still every summer I relentlessly pursued swimming learning simple styles and pleading with everyone not to make me jump from the plank! Then one such summer break I developed some sort of skin rashes because of the water and I stopped swimming too! Unlike drawing, till date I have never been able to pursue swimming!
At this juncture, I heard about table tennis classes and thought that it is very important to pursue a game. I enrolled myself for these classes in the summer break after fifth standard classes. These classes used to start in the morning at 6 stretching till 11 and then again at 4 till 7 in the night. I really enjoyed them and I even participated in a few competitions (I lost them..but each time my teacher used to say…keep on practicing ..you will win next time).I stopped these classes temporarily in the tenth standard but the break became permanent!
At around the same time as these table tennis classes I started learning to play the Casio. It was very convenient because the teacher was coming home. Every time I used to go to a book shop I bought some tune books. Nothing much to say about its present status except that it lying in the attic waiting for my touch! I can still hear my dad and mom debating about selling it. Any takers?
I was never enrolled into music classes and it was out of my own sheer will that I joined carnatic music classes. I pursued singing consistently for five years and also happened to sing in a temple and school. After my schooling, I had these early morning classes (6 to 8) and college (1 to 6), excluding traveling time. My practice hours drastically came down to the extent that my teacher told that if I cannot practice regularly then I can stop my lessons. My Shruthi box is dusting away to glory and i wonder if I can even sing t he basic swaras correctly now!
Is it that only I do not find time for such activities or is it the same with others too???

After a grueling day, I pulled out all the coins I had stuffed in various compartments in my bag and figured that I had to take the public transport to get home. Usually, I board the bus in the terminus itself. While I sat there waiting for the bus to move, one girl came up to me and said that she was studying in Anna University and that I should tell her where to get down. So far so good.
We were getting bored and hence we were asking very basic questions about each other’s lives. She was from Kerala and was doing her first year of engineering and had got in purely on merit. I am sure that any commerce student would be aware that there is an institution called Anna University and that engineering is a four year course.

Now it was her turn to question me. She asked me if I was a student. I answered in the affirmative. Next she asked “Which college?” I very boldly told her that I was doing ca. Her reaction was something very disturbing. She said ‘Oh, but I asked where?’ I told her the full form of ca and even told her that it is not done from a college. Even after that she asked “But what do you study in college then?”
I decided to give up and I told her the name of some college and told her that I study B.Com in college. At least after this reply of mine had she left me alone I would have had some respect for her. No, she exclaimed and said “So, you are doing commerce?” My head was spinning as to why people do not read newspapers. You do not need to read business newspapers for that. Many companies publish their financial statements in The Hindu! On seeing those will they not wonder, who are auditors?!

While I was lost in my thoughts, I could see her lips moving. Suddenly realizing that she was talking to me, I wished away all my thoughts and made an effort to listen to her. She was saying how easy life is for those doing commerce where as they had to slog their way out! Finally this conductor announced that another bus would leave the terminus as this bus had some problem. I rushed out and sat as afar as possible from that girl after reassuring her that I would inform her when she has to get down.

As the bus moved, the soft wind that brushed my hair I was wondering if any commerce graduate would agree that studying commerce was the simplest thing to do. Moreover they do not realize that they will have to study more than the B.Com students because they turn out as professionals at the end of four years but not B.com graduates. They have a longer way to go. CA? What do these letters mean for engineering students? Well, I could not come out with an answer. This girl whom I was talking to was from Kerala which is 100% literate!
Hmmmm….so that is being literate!

Privacy.. Is that too much to ask for?
At times I find it very frustrating to own a cell phone! Everyone owns one irrespective of their age and requirements. I was traveling in a bus, when I came across a school girl, say about 12 years of age talking incessantly over the cell! She spoke so much that she had forgotten to buy herself a ticket and worse she did not even realize it. Anyone standing near her would have known all about her, her school, her place of residence, her plans for the weekend, and her new crush at school. That’s all I managed to listen because after that I was lost in my thoughts.
The fact that you are accessible to everyone at all times of the day makes everyone to take you for granted. People just do not have the basic courtesy as to what time of the day they can call! Even if you keep it on silent mode and the call goes unattended the other person would be sure that you would know he had called and worse expect you to return the call. Supposing you returned the call after a few hours, they even take the right to question you as to what you were doing all the time! Once I switched off my cell and the next morning I got a message from my network operator that I could view all those who had called while my phone was switched off by sending a message! Damn these money makers! Anyways, I got down to my work and after a few days I realized that my friend was upset that I had not returned her call! She called me a miser for not subscribing to that service!
Messaging, a boon during college hours is a pain during other times. Almost all phones show whether the messages have been delivered or not! I have seen so many people staring at their phones to just see if it says ‘Message Delivered’. Moreover, even if the phone is switched off the other person will know when exactly you have switched on your cell and the questioning session begins! Doubts, to a certain extent can be cleared by way of a message but not the entire sum! If you ask the other person to call, he will tell you that since your messages are free you can message. Even if you offer to call he will say that he is outside and cannot speak freely. Apparently he is multi-tasking!
I went to enquire about computer classes in a nearby place. He was explaining the course contents, the fees and certification details which were rather confusing in his pamphlet. In that half an hour, he had got four calls and five messages which he very patiently attended to. Each time he would finish attending the call and say ‘Yeah, so any other doubts?’ Well, I did want to ask if he was the most wanted person in the country or rather if he thought so.
Fine, the guy there need not respect me but I did expect my friend, whom I had not visited for long to speak to me. But that was not so! He sat right opposite to me and would start saying ‘Hey, you know what happened?......’ As you guessed all I heard after that was a beep and he was replying to that message. The worst part of this incident was that he looked up and said ‘So, what is happening in your life?’
But I do agree that there are occasions when I felt that my cell phone saved my life! So, I very meekly decided to accept that every coin is two sided!