An honor it is !

For last few days I have been finding a reason to publish a blog. True that a lot of things have happened recently. Things like, finding new friends, fighting with older ones, leaving my job in Noida, and also the friends there, socializing with relatives at home; but none had inspired me to publish a blog. But it happened today !

Today, after more than 9 years, I happened to visit my school for forms attestation. I have always wished for this visit, but never took the initiative till today.

Jankidas Kapur Public School, the building of the school is as great as it has always been..., the red tiled bricks, beautiful gardens, ample space in the play ground, statues of 3 goddesses in the prayer hall and the school corridors... whole of my childhood came alive in front of my eyes. How just being there had shaped my life as it is today. How the classes we attended, the games we played, the experiments we did in labs, the audio visual sessions we attended, the library books we issued, the talks we had with teachers, the teachers we respected, the friends we made, the care we got... all these things were preparing us for the real life, and we didn't even realize it till late. And when we do realize, the childhood had gone, all good things captured in memories. But, that's life. I met with our new Principal Sir. I remember being in Principal's Room thrice during my school days. The trophies and the posters used to mesmerize me and his table used to stretch till horizon for my small eyes that time. But today, it was different, it was a meeting of two grownups, a meeting where I agreed with him when he said 'schooling is important and more significant than outside coaching'. And my agreement twinkled in his eyes like his success. Sir were more than happy to know about my IIM Calcutta joining. He invited me to address school students in my next visit home. Some thing I always dreamt of and today, felt how big an honour it would be !! A pleasant surprise was when I ran into my Ph. edu. teacher, Mr Vijay Sharma Sir, who took zero seconds to recall my name 'Shelly, kuch khaane ko nahi milta??', Of course he was referring to my slim trim health :P How much I owe my success to him, only I can tell. All the sports certificates I was carrying in my hand, were because he had always taken an initiative on school's behalf to go on tournaments. He was as charming as he had always been, only a hint of grey hair had come.

Even the road to school carries memories, of the spilt ice creams, walks to home drenched in rain..!!, falling off from bicycle a couple of times....., but now it is just a road less travelled, though I have miles to go...!

Proud to be a JDPKS student !

Shelly Jain

JDKPS Class of 2000

IIM Calcutta City Meet for Freshers - New Delhi

With an offer from iim-c (..oops joka as it is known between jokaites), life surely will bring many new experiences. The support from seniors, be it Pre GD/PI Mentorship program, or formation of google group, prompt responses on forums like PG or Orkut, has been outstanding. It just touched a newer height today. Quite a number of seniors are doing there internships in India. In spite of the immense work pressure which they must be having in office, they organized a freshers meet in 6 metro cities of India. I attended the one in Delhi. We three students from Noida too off around 5.30 pm. The meet was at India International Centre. The address mentioned a Max Muller's Road, but we didn't find any landmark with that name, until we were returning. But thanks to auto-rick driver(s), we asked for directions and reached the venue on time. The atmosphere was calm. Many batch mates had arrived (hereafter called PG1). Couple of dudes were standing near the screen, so I assumed they were seniors (hereafter called PG2). After a few mins, the meeting starting with a quick round of introductions by both PG1 and PG2. Couldn't recognize many even after having seen their orkut snaps. Anyway, there was one full row of PG1s from iit-d, second from dce and nsit. Backbenchers were a mix of work-ex guys and fachchas, last but not the least, I was the only gal in the crowd (gosh! where do gals land up in life? they get good marks in school and colleges, then why the hell they don't pursue studies..). Hmm... will leave this thought right here. I want to jump to last section of the meeting, so will cover the happenings before that in few lines. The presentation on joka was awesome, nice creativity again. Some cool pics were shown. One slide was on professors who will teach us and believe me, that was the slide of the day! Then a tea break. Chit chat happened. Enjoyed it. And when we were back, few more guys had joined and thankfully a girl. Now I would like to mention that they were no dudes, they were 'the dudes', from Joka Batch of 2009 (hereafter refered as PG3). Awesome persona, elegant way of handling questions, the looks that would impress and the profiles which I had till now only heard of. Well, in all, I was already falling for the moment, thinking what wonderful life I am gonna have soon. The Q&A went on for a while. Both PG-2/3 were eager to resolve our queries. I could already sense the bond of togetherness which jokaites share with each other, with their seniors and above all with their institute.

I know, I am one among lucky 408 students going to be the jokaites of 2011. Today, I came to know, I am not lucky, but 'the luckiest'.

A month from now, I will start my journey to jokaland. I am already missing it (hmm... yes I am). Waiting eagerly to be a part of IIM Calcutta,

On sweet notes, signing off,

G'nite !

What it takes to say yes to an inter caste marriage?

I am sure every Indian youth, irrespective of caste, creed, sect or sex, would have encountered a situation where a side has to be chosen - support an inter caste marriage or not.

As a first impulsive response to this query, 90+% would say they do not support caste system at all and would like it to be eradicated from India. But, after a deeper introspect, many would start considering external criterion like wish of parents, kinds of adjustments that one will have to do, the society and the status and many more. The real answer may remain a 'no' but, in action, it would be 'yes'. From the experiences of people around, I can say that most of the relationships in India break due to inter caste differences at the time of final commitment.

A similar question has been put to me many a times. I being a 'Jain', face much more restrictions. For me considering any non-Jain prospect would not just be an inter caste but an 'inter-religion' tie up. Thus all above factors contribute in double fold. But in between all the thoughts, I fail to understand the real challenge to take a bold decision.

Is the biggest challenge going against one's parents' will? From the day a girl is born, parents have a wish that after her marriage, she be happy in her in-laws house. That, she makes them proud and makes a nice home. After wedding, a situation occurs when the girl has to choose between her parents and husband (and believe me these situations arrive). Here, everyone including parents, husband, in-laws and 'the society' will expect the girl to choose her husband over her parents. Because that is her final home, her future, her life. Thus I say, why not make the similar choice before marriage. Marriage to me seems to provide a legal licence to take such a decision, while the parties involved and the consequences in both circumstances remain the same.

Do the kind of adjustments the biggest challenge? Eating habits? Jainism is considered to be 'the most' restrictive religion when eating is considered. Many vegetables are not permitted. The supper is expected to be completed before sunset because lot of small organisms would die if a fire is lit after dark. Now consider the worst case. The guy is a non vegetarian and loves none other but non veg food. After marriage, he would be implicitly assumed to quit having non-veg. A more humble solution for him would be have non-veg food outside (... with a packet of mentos at the end :D) Many other such adjustments I can think of (cooking, living style etc) can be worked upon. It would be a test of mutual understanding and respect for each other's religion. In long term this will be beneficial, as the bond of togetherness with strengthen by small compromises.

I would give society a one-line. I don't give a damn to what others would have to say or gossip, so discarding this point.

Another challenge is to follow the traditions. May be till now I am not aware of why a particular festival is celebrated in a religion. But over time, I can learn the reasons, the beliefs and gradually would be able to give due respect to the same. So not a challenge.

The next point which I feel to be a real challenge is faith in respective Gods. I have worshipped the superpower by a name (Lord Parshvnath). I have utterest faith in God. I give the credit of all good in my life to HIM. I also believe that there is only one God, and names are created by humans. But, given a situation, I am asked to replace the name in my heart, by Shiva, Ganesha, Jesus or Allah or any other name used by humans to refer to HIM. It is a possible task, but would I be able to do it. My answer is 'No'. Even if I try, I would not be 100% true inside. It is very much similar to love my guy by a different name. A general solution people seek is worshipping individual Gods or putting pictures of both the Gods in house and saying prayers to both. This also I think is not a pure solution. I have place only for one in my heart. And that place can not be shared. If I try to share, it will be breaking faith with both. This is like loving two people at the same time and giving equal respect and place in life. This can never be achieved. I am not sure if anyone will ever understand this point deeply, but I always feel this to be a challenge. May be this could be worked upon and I might be unaware of a right approach at present. Btw, did I mention that for an Indian girl, her husband is bigger than all Gods... oops now I did ;-)

signing off!

G'nite!

My journey to IIM Calcutta

When I was preparing for CAT and later gd/pi, I found the experiences people had shared very good. I could related myself to those articles and gauge the situation better.
So here I post a piece of my experience on How I made to IIM-C?

Common problems:
Killer QA Section - In my previous CAT attempt, I got single digit score in QA, a small score in DI, and a good score in VA. It was same in all mocks. I devoted a lot of time studying mathematics. I can mention that maths has been my favorite subject, I was very good in maths, YET here I was unable to do more than 6 QA qs in one paper. So what wrong ???? Call for an RCA - d Root Cause Analysis. And I came to a conclusion that out of 25 qs in a QA section of a paper, I knew or I could easily solve 15-18 qs. But due to poor selection, I always hit the difficult q and wasted lot of time on it, just to realize midway that I should move to next q, which again by my wrong algo would be one of challenger qs.

Coaching - to do or not to do - As I started to prepare for CAT 2008, I faced this dilema. Surely poor score in QA was eating me. And with coaching, one always expects to become 'regular' in studies. I say thats crap. Another RCA - A person who wouldn't study regulary, would not attend classes regularly. Thats my belief. That said, I think coaching classes are good if one has been little weak in studies in schooltime or is totally out of touch. Take a test, read these terms - probablity, permutations, time distance, rational number, pi, tangents, altitude - If majority of these terms are alien to you, go for coaching, if you remember these, but not fully, brush up your basics and retake the test. You decide, if you still face the dilema. Well, I didn't and now I was on my own.

How to attempt simCATs - I am an IMS fan, I love their simCATs and the analysis section. Its awesome. But, just going for a test, devote 150 mins and come back to sqaure one 'is to be avoided'. The term here is 'strategy'. Choose your strategy for a mock, and see how it goes. Well I tested my sequence of attempting 3 sections, time management - round robin or time slicing or random and lot more. You'll see which suits you best - the idea here is to keep your brain active, positive and not to stress out. Also, I prepared a maths section well for one week and did all qs on that in my weekend simCAT. This helped me boost my confidence in those sections. But, beware, the week I prepared trigno, there was 'zero' qs in next simCAT on trigno :-) So, prepare most of the topics, yet be best in your fav.

Before CAT/on CAT day - Just relax. You have studied well. That knowledge is still present in your memory. Now, you just need to believe in yourself. C'mon you know yourself, and you know you get nervous in real test and go blank for a moment - what to do ?? Listen this, on my CAT day, there was this wedding, and loud music was playing right next to my CAT center. For first 20 minutes, I could not read properly and got a headache. BUT, that was my day, I wouldn't let anyone get that. So remember what you know - Pray once and FOCUS. You will realize 2 hours have ended only when the bell goes out. Till then, its you and your paper. Nothing else - not even your thoughts to crack it or not to, or any any thing. Just you, those qs, a nice selection, and darkening the right circle.

GD/PI - Well well, I confess, this is harder test than the written one. You see the profiles of candidates, their long list of extra-curr and then back at your small oneliner :-). Doesn't matter. Then you see that people know much more about eco, pol, fin n blah and you realize you recently came to know what inflation is. Doesn't matter. You see people from IIT, DCE and blah. Then you look at the unknown college of your small city in your profile sheet. Doesn't matter. Even on GD/PI days, you see people giving fundas about different colleges, and you realize you only know IIMs. Doesn't matter. NOW, what matters ??? Answer is simple, its 'Power of YOU'. You are unique, you are passionate, you can visualize yourself in IIM class performing best, you can visualize yourself at a managers seat making effective well informed decisions - This all matters. Make yourself aware of 'you within'. And be confident, just show them 'that you', the day is yours !

There is lot more I can write. But I leave that for you to do one year from now !!

The Full Moon of April 9, 2009

When you have put your soul into a task but the result depends in someone's else hand,
When that decision stands as a turning point in your life and you are not allowed to guess...
Well at that time you happen to log to astrologyzone.com and keep checking if there in bad written for you :-D
Something like this has been happening for a long time for me. IIM interviews were done on March 10th, and the last month has been a killer time waiting, waiting and more waiting - till yesterday..more on this later..
So I log in the above mentioned website, and here I give an excerpt from the April forecast for capricorn...
A cornucopia of goodies will be coming your way in April, with upbeat developments in travel, career, money, romance, home, and family. Your possibilities for progress will be impressive on all fronts in this highly productive, satisfying month. Wow! Do as much as you can this month, dear Capricorn.....Watch what occurs on or in the four days surrounding the full moon April 9.....News should be just what you want to hear....will be the only full moon of 2009 in your career sector, so it's sure to be a decisive moment...Rest assured, all things related to your career (and also your home, since Venus is currently moving through your home sector) will start to go better, first near the full moon, April 9 and then even more so after April 17.....If you were born on or within five days of December 26, this new moon will be your best buddy, and you will feel the effects the most. ........www.astrologyzone.com

Guess, it was correct - Results were out yesterday and I made it to IIM- C and IIM-L.
Joining IIM Calcutta Class of 2011.

Time flies a lot faster than we realize.

September'08 was when I wrote my last blog n since then life hasn't stopped happening. First its the king aka wml who occupied my october. Now dont ask more, even I dont know much :-( ... then November was NOT about CAT ONLY. 1. My oldest friend cum roomie, got married, moved to US; 2. My sis got engaged :D 3. then comes CAT, cant forget the day-loudspeaker during the test, n I overconcentrated :P and as it turns out the next day - I scored well .. nah dont smile, lots to come later. 4. Mishra Junior arrives in the world :) gosh when i m gonna see the cutie. Then Dec'08 - d wedding of my sweet sis, it was awesome n jiju is bindaas :D and m back to focus on king - nothing much happening here, but still goody. Aah my birthday, n the new year eve - d worst day of 2k8, I was all alone, noone to spend time with, missed my sis n bro so much :'( subak subak. But, hella, I decide, enough is enough. I am no stupo, I take back control n yes, 2k9 would rock!! I will make it rock. No resolutions. As I say, d plan is not to have a plan :D. Then Jan'09 - everything good till 9th, when it was super good. And as I said that day- CAT....wait-for-it...BELLED!!! Hurray! half a day of excitement. And since then, I am thinking, all about meee. Whts me all about, strengths, weakness, goals, career, extracurr, past, present, future, economics, budget, crisis, fiscal deficit, satyam, why yes, why no, gaaa gaaa, blah blah - who m i ??.... I lost d grand 2 kgs :-( Feb'09 - as it is about to end, I had IIMK interview on 18th, I dont want to talk about thattttt. Sarthak cracks Indiana Kelly-yet unhappy, Yes, lotsa movies - gazhini, rab de bana di jodi, devd n latest delhi-6, prison break is back :) so is my friend ponts. And yeah, the 3 frnds i talked abt in my last post, king is still holding on, gg is there n 3rd one is out... the best i thought, but turns out, she aint that good.
I can write about Mar'09 - d two big ones left, holi, 10 yrs since I lost vickie, vinni might get posting... will cover all in another post later!!
ciao - 2k9 has to rock !!

Friendly September!

This september'08, I complete my 2 yrs of leaving Bangalore city, away from my gang of friends for 2 long years. I remember the day very well, how I managed to smile till the moment the flight took off. I could actually feel my present turning into a past full of sweet memories. Well, I have been lost in those memories till some day in this month, when I suddenly realized that I have become isolated from the word 'friends'. The idea was scary but thought provoking. Though at end of the month I would have three news friends added to my list.
And suddenly, the life is beautiful again...!!
PS: hectic day, needs rest, feeling sleepy ! bye!

A busy Tuesday !!

Today I can say I really did optimal utilization of my day. Starting with washing clothes in the early morning, went office, gave a 55 page test on Insurance(yups again), rushed to the IMS center to register for SIMCATs, took time out for a movie(sarkar raj), and finally read my performance appraisal rating for current financial year.. and dont forget this blog.. Well the performance of movie..good.. made me take the appraisal rating in a relaxed manner. Its not the Best but yeah, it is second to best.. but i am ok. Like the dialogue from movie.. for long term goals, we should forget short term losses , infact bear them.. Though ignoring this rating doesnt serve any good to ultimate goal, but yeah does a real good that I wouldn't be deviated from my CAT goal. The things are going steady, and this time I am gonna crack CAT. And these small issues of appraisal and work politics shouldn't bother me. The plan is to focus on 'soch' .. which would motivate me to reach my goal faster and accurately.