Monday, June 12, 2006
Monday, June 05, 2006
The great escape
For many students and professionals today, the obvious career choice seems to be linked with successfully completing an MBA, in one way or the other.
Be it software professionals disillusioned by the Copy + Paste formula, or the Commerce Grads - tired of selling insurance policies and handing out loans.
It really forces one to think, is an MBA a well thought out career choice, or an escape from the present situation?
Having formally been a part of the B-school aspirant bandwagon (and perhaps still a part of it), I sometimes wonder how many students actually even know what the syllabi looks like before applying for B-school admissions. Does the brand value of the institute supersede the course content? Does the lure of a fat pay packet dilute your true calling?
And how does one react to the incessant preparation that goes on for the various 'Aptitude' tests for admissions to B-Schools... The way I look at it, if I have to prepare for something three hours a day, six months at a stretch, preferably in the Himalayas, then I don’t have the aptitude for it! Why would have to prepare for something if I had the aptitude for it!
Baffles me. Completely.
P.S. : If anyone happens to read this, please do leave your comments behind. I really want to know what your take on this is.
Be it software professionals disillusioned by the Copy + Paste formula, or the Commerce Grads - tired of selling insurance policies and handing out loans.
It really forces one to think, is an MBA a well thought out career choice, or an escape from the present situation?
Having formally been a part of the B-school aspirant bandwagon (and perhaps still a part of it), I sometimes wonder how many students actually even know what the syllabi looks like before applying for B-school admissions. Does the brand value of the institute supersede the course content? Does the lure of a fat pay packet dilute your true calling?
And how does one react to the incessant preparation that goes on for the various 'Aptitude' tests for admissions to B-Schools... The way I look at it, if I have to prepare for something three hours a day, six months at a stretch, preferably in the Himalayas, then I don’t have the aptitude for it! Why would have to prepare for something if I had the aptitude for it!
Baffles me. Completely.
P.S. : If anyone happens to read this, please do leave your comments behind. I really want to know what your take on this is.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Brothers in arms
Children of Adam,
Brothers in arms,
Why do we forget?
George is my brother, so is Laden.
Children of Adam,
Brothers in arms,
Why do we forget?
Why love mortals?
To mourn separation?
Love life,
When it goes, it sweeps you with it.
What will you then mourn, when you are with it always...
Brothers in arms,
Why do we forget?
George is my brother, so is Laden.
Children of Adam,
Brothers in arms,
Why do we forget?
Why love mortals?
To mourn separation?
Love life,
When it goes, it sweeps you with it.
What will you then mourn, when you are with it always...
Monday, May 29, 2006
Say Hello to Tony Montana
Captured Images stare at me
With smiles on their faces, all of them
I smile at my reflection,
It refuses to smile back.
The failures I quantify
They are so many
The blessings I turn to
Unquantifiable, irreplaceable, omnipresent.
Death is the end of life?No. Life is death. Life is a test.
Death is freedom from the shackles,
Death, is life - in a new world; out of the cage that is the body.
Give me fire. Give me reason to live, reason to fight.
Give me life i would live all over again
Give me a death i would like to die a hundred times.
Take my life when i am burning the brightest
Take my life when i have found reason to live.
Mairaj Zindran
With smiles on their faces, all of them
I smile at my reflection,
It refuses to smile back.
The failures I quantify
They are so many
The blessings I turn to
Unquantifiable, irreplaceable, omnipresent.
Death is the end of life?No. Life is death. Life is a test.
Death is freedom from the shackles,
Death, is life - in a new world; out of the cage that is the body.
Give me fire. Give me reason to live, reason to fight.
Give me life i would live all over again
Give me a death i would like to die a hundred times.
Take my life when i am burning the brightest
Take my life when i have found reason to live.
Mairaj Zindran
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Finding Neverland
I saw 'Finding Neverland' last year for the first time and have watched it everytime I have had a chance to since. In many ways, the movie reflected some of my own hidden emotions and ethoes to an extent that I am compelled to document it today.
The cast :
SIR J. M. BARRIE - Johnny Depp
SYLVIA LLEWELYN DAVIES - Kate Winslet
CHARLES FROHMAN - Dustin Hoffman
MARY ANSELL BARRIE - Radha Mitchell
PETER DAVIES - Freddie Highmore
Set in 1904, Finding Neverland is modelled around Sir. J.M. Barrie, the creator of such immortal classics as Peter Pan and Captain Hook. One of his plays fails on opening night, much to the chagrin of his financer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman). Caught between his search for that one magical play and his failed marriage with Mary Ansell Barrie (Radha Mitchell), Barrie escapes the vagaries of the world by taking his dog out to walks in the park.
Barrie finds solace in the time he spends with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), a high society widow, struggling to raise four sons in a still prejudiced society. The children, bereaved by their fathers' death, endear themselves to Barrie except for the youngest - Peter Davies (Freddie Highmore), who takes his time to open up to a stranger after his fathers death.
Barrie spends more and more time with the children and the widow, playing imaginary games with them, on imaginary ships, with imaginary pirates and imaginary animals. The time he spends with them acts as an escape for him from the seemingly material world and leads to his most immortal creation - Peter Pan.
Johnny Depp as Sir. Barrie is a revelation. Be it the dignity with which he tries to shut himself from his loveless marriage, the games he plays with the children or his silent love for the ailing Sylvia, he seems the very embodiment of the melancholic - forlorn writer.
The moment Sir Barrie conceptualizes Peter Pan - when he visualizes the children magically rising up into mid air, transports one into ones own magical childhood.
When Sylvia dies and Peter, with a tear in his eyes, asks Sir. Barrie "Why did she have to die?" and Barrie replies - "I don't know that boy", is perhaps the most heart wrenching moment in the movie.
Be it Sylvia's vehement denial of her illness, Barrie taking her into the imaginary 'Neverland', or the forced maturity of Peter after the loss of his father and then his mother, Finding Neverland is a treat to the aesthetic mind.
Mairaj Zindran
The cast :
SIR J. M. BARRIE - Johnny Depp
SYLVIA LLEWELYN DAVIES - Kate Winslet
CHARLES FROHMAN - Dustin Hoffman
MARY ANSELL BARRIE - Radha Mitchell
PETER DAVIES - Freddie Highmore
Set in 1904, Finding Neverland is modelled around Sir. J.M. Barrie, the creator of such immortal classics as Peter Pan and Captain Hook. One of his plays fails on opening night, much to the chagrin of his financer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman). Caught between his search for that one magical play and his failed marriage with Mary Ansell Barrie (Radha Mitchell), Barrie escapes the vagaries of the world by taking his dog out to walks in the park.
Barrie finds solace in the time he spends with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet), a high society widow, struggling to raise four sons in a still prejudiced society. The children, bereaved by their fathers' death, endear themselves to Barrie except for the youngest - Peter Davies (Freddie Highmore), who takes his time to open up to a stranger after his fathers death.
Barrie spends more and more time with the children and the widow, playing imaginary games with them, on imaginary ships, with imaginary pirates and imaginary animals. The time he spends with them acts as an escape for him from the seemingly material world and leads to his most immortal creation - Peter Pan.
Johnny Depp as Sir. Barrie is a revelation. Be it the dignity with which he tries to shut himself from his loveless marriage, the games he plays with the children or his silent love for the ailing Sylvia, he seems the very embodiment of the melancholic - forlorn writer.
The moment Sir Barrie conceptualizes Peter Pan - when he visualizes the children magically rising up into mid air, transports one into ones own magical childhood.
When Sylvia dies and Peter, with a tear in his eyes, asks Sir. Barrie "Why did she have to die?" and Barrie replies - "I don't know that boy", is perhaps the most heart wrenching moment in the movie.
Be it Sylvia's vehement denial of her illness, Barrie taking her into the imaginary 'Neverland', or the forced maturity of Peter after the loss of his father and then his mother, Finding Neverland is a treat to the aesthetic mind.
Mairaj Zindran
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Happiness
A paycheck every month
Lasting till the 29th - two days of agony, then ecstacy
Happiness once a month.
Upto 12000 one, crashing all over the place the next
Fortunes swinging, this way to the other
Speculative happiness.
Hard earned pots of gold
Spent on wheels, driven 5000 miles albeit
Second hand happiness.
A match made in heaven
At $800m for each meandering
Alimony happiness.
Driving endurance to the very edge
Challenging milestones, overcoming the mind
End achieved - Happiness achieved.
Diving down a cliff
Leaving prejudice behind,
At one with the self, At one with Him,
The body cutting through the wind, or the soul dissolving in it?
Pristine... Pure... Happiness.
Mairaj Zindran
Lasting till the 29th - two days of agony, then ecstacy
Happiness once a month.
Upto 12000 one, crashing all over the place the next
Fortunes swinging, this way to the other
Speculative happiness.
Hard earned pots of gold
Spent on wheels, driven 5000 miles albeit
Second hand happiness.
A match made in heaven
At $800m for each meandering
Alimony happiness.
Driving endurance to the very edge
Challenging milestones, overcoming the mind
End achieved - Happiness achieved.
Diving down a cliff
Leaving prejudice behind,
At one with the self, At one with Him,
The body cutting through the wind, or the soul dissolving in it?
Pristine... Pure... Happiness.
Mairaj Zindran
Monday, May 15, 2006
Moments
On Saturday, the 13th of May, Liverpool played West Ham United in the final of the FA Cup 2006. They overame a one goal deficit twice, on one occasion in the 91st minute, to draw 3-3 at fulltime to take the game to extra time and finally to penalties, where Liverpool ultimately won 3-1.
After a disastrous own goal by Carragher which gave WHU a 1-0 lead, the tone seem to be set for a another big stage upset. But it was one man, Stevie Gerrard, who as always, proved just what his right foot is capable of, slamming in two equalizers and creating a chance for Cisse, who was more than happy to oblige.
That is exactly what this encounter will be remembered for - those magical moments.
Isn't this what life is all about? Are't our lives defined by those unforgettable moments.. some magical.. some plainly disastrous?
Gerrard's double blows against West ham, evoking memories of that unforgettable Champions league final in 2005 against AC Milan, will go on to define his life. His life and times will precipitate down to a few seconds, a few moments. Moments of glory, of pride, of self realisation, of jubiliation... of humble pride.
The history of the world hinges on moments. The symbolic tearing down of the Berlin wall, the historic(yet reluctant) handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Richard Nixon showing a shadow of an emotion on national television after the Watergate Scandal, Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 cricket world cup against all odds, Rubens Barichello getting his first grand prix victory in 128 starts, Alexander the Great's untimely death at 32.... the list is endless..
But what lends immortality to these moments does not lie in what transpired after them, but what could have transpired had these moments not taken place - Ever thought what the world map would look like had Alexander not had his untimely death?
Another fascinating aspect about these moments is that they either propel underdogs to stardom, or put a rude end to earstwhile behemoths.
Is it the law of averages at work? Or is it plain eccentric luck. Whatever it is, it teaches the world one thing.. sooner or later, there will be compensation, there will be redemption. It could take you higher than the stars, or push you to abyssmal depths of oblivion. Wherever it takes you, it will be...
After a disastrous own goal by Carragher which gave WHU a 1-0 lead, the tone seem to be set for a another big stage upset. But it was one man, Stevie Gerrard, who as always, proved just what his right foot is capable of, slamming in two equalizers and creating a chance for Cisse, who was more than happy to oblige.
That is exactly what this encounter will be remembered for - those magical moments.
Isn't this what life is all about? Are't our lives defined by those unforgettable moments.. some magical.. some plainly disastrous?
Gerrard's double blows against West ham, evoking memories of that unforgettable Champions league final in 2005 against AC Milan, will go on to define his life. His life and times will precipitate down to a few seconds, a few moments. Moments of glory, of pride, of self realisation, of jubiliation... of humble pride.
The history of the world hinges on moments. The symbolic tearing down of the Berlin wall, the historic(yet reluctant) handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Richard Nixon showing a shadow of an emotion on national television after the Watergate Scandal, Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 cricket world cup against all odds, Rubens Barichello getting his first grand prix victory in 128 starts, Alexander the Great's untimely death at 32.... the list is endless..
But what lends immortality to these moments does not lie in what transpired after them, but what could have transpired had these moments not taken place - Ever thought what the world map would look like had Alexander not had his untimely death?
Another fascinating aspect about these moments is that they either propel underdogs to stardom, or put a rude end to earstwhile behemoths.
Is it the law of averages at work? Or is it plain eccentric luck. Whatever it is, it teaches the world one thing.. sooner or later, there will be compensation, there will be redemption. It could take you higher than the stars, or push you to abyssmal depths of oblivion. Wherever it takes you, it will be...
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