AICTE-the fraudulent body!!

i hope we all must have been aware about the sensational news about the country's top technical education governing body AICTE's chairman and its sleuths being involved in the bribe row.the CBI official had raided the house of aicte chairman ,his sectatary and other high ranked people on the charges of taking bribe from enginneering colleges on the pretext of approving their colleges.and they have been proved guilty of the charges and have been rightfully sacked.

this is a very good news with the fact of the matter that the govt had taken this decision with such alacrity and seriously.i must thank mr.kapil sibbal for showing such considerable progress in the education sector of the country which has been shackled in the hands of these corrupt babus.

after the incident of such reputed body like AICTE getting involved in such shameful incident a question needs to be asked that do we really need a body like AICTE and UGC for granting their permission to professional colleges to run the college.these people who are living light years away from today's reality and present scenario,should we leave onto them to decide what should be taught,how big should be campus and how many staff should be there and how many toilets should be built when their yardstick is not how a particular parameter is justifying today's competitive world but with the weight of 'lubrication money'.

this is a dismaying and shocking incident and it has revealed the true picture of what is the current stage of the education sector of our country.we can fairly guess what is the future of this country till this sector is run by these people who care nothing less than their bank balance.
today their are so many colleges which have fulfilled their norms as per AICTE's guidelines but still they are not been given the recognition and paradoxically there are lots of colleges mushrooming each and everywhere which are good for nothing and they still have AICTE approval.such is the irony of our country.

after all,what is the basis of granting the approval.why don't we just scrap it off as these very norms and guidelines are so old and unamended from so many years that they are just obstacles to the need of dynamic educational environment.it lacks the spirit of progress and vision.

i was reading this magazine yesterday in which this college's principal was claiming the exact rates for no of seats,how they have to go each and every year to AICTE to renew their approval and gets harassed by them.
what we need today is a body which should comprise of government and independent members who are highly distinguished in the various fields like education ,corporate world,research and philosophers who can take over the education sector and save it from what it will be otherwise be lost into oblivion.

though this is a very naive suggestion from which i begin with but i definitely hope that with the arrival of Mr kapil sibbal and with the attitude and approach he has shown till now,their seems to be light at the end of the tunnel..

welcome to reality!!

if you will surf to an earlier post of mine you will find a blog about how much change the city has undergone,how much it has developed and what are the changes in the perceptions of people.

this morning i woke up and read the hindi daily and i realized how naive i was that without going much deeper i came out of the conclusion.i was wrong,nothing has changed and pardon my harshness but i am damn sure that with the people's mentality here nothin is going to change either.
now again i will not commit the same mistake by jumping on to conclusions as i did earlier for which i duly aplozige.instead i will read out two headlines which i read in todays' newspaer and will leave it upon you to infer if i am wrong or not.

NEWS1 :a local MLA goon ,who is chargesheeted for various offences stormed into Additional District Magistrate in his office yesterday with the purpose of some case related to his constituency.and guess what this MLA slapped the ADM,kicked him,tore his clothes right in his office right in front of his collegues and his juniors and no one watching the shameless act dared to do anything to stop this.

the adm felt so humialted with his soiled self respect that he could'nt control himself and he was visibly left in tears in front of the media persons.i still remember those words which he said "what is the use of my hard work,my study,my sacrifice which i have put for this job when my self respect and dignity can be soiled,it would have been better had i worked in a small paan shop,how will i face my family".

NEWS2
scene:delhi high court:case: a female high class civil servant had compained about the sexual harrasment from her boss.
result-she was locked up in jail,beaten up badly several times,raped by cops.now she is at such stage that she is on verge on becoming lunatic.as an evidence she was crying today in front of judge that now there is no self respect left,she is ready to be auctioned by anybody and things like that.
judge:she had reserved the judgemnet for a future date.

now what the hell is wrong with us.i was seething with anger when i was reading this.there is this lady who had sacrificed her whole youth and studied hard to earn a respectable job,and this is the result she has got.her whole life has been destroyed all because of these wild animals who are living scot free in the society.have we ever stopped and thought about these acts of injustice.


it has pained me to know that a shameful incident of such stature could happen with such a high ranked civil servant and yet no one could dare to stop this incident.how the ADM must have really felt.did he studied so hard just to live for this day.is this the level of power and judiciary in our society.this ia a livid example of the power of feifdom that today law has bowed under its pressure.

there are infinite questions coming into my mind and i am dismayed,shocked and disturbed about the ugliness of the truth.we all are living in a society where is no respect for morals,principles and ethics and the only priciple that governs society is immorality,illiteracy,lack of reason.we are witnessing these things everyday and we are too diffident to do anything.we are allowing the growth of a culture which is filled with chauvinism,complacancy,ego,prejudice and hatred.we all curse it but nobody has the wil to raise his head aginst such injustice.what role models are we trying to create.

we all say that no place is a perfect society,the idea of utopia is an illusion.i agree with this but i know that there are places which are better to live than this rotten place which lacks system.i too have the same level of patriotism in which but not to an extent of being quixotic.

a lesson i learned,never ever land into public sector no matter how lucrative it seems.Thank you!!!

webosphere-the big boom!!

i spend a lot of my waking hours on the internet due to my CPIM prep these days and over the time it has struck me that i find this webosphere very exciting space with lots and lots of web potensial due to it web2.0.

the computer is divided into hardware and software,and till some time back these two domains were forte of only few business players only.for eg the hardware was the monopoly of intel processor,desktop pcs with dell and the likes while the software largely dominated by microsoft.but recent times have witnessed a lot of heated competition between emerging players with google playing its cards very well and seeming as serious competitior to Microsoft.

the management of goggle is very aggressive in its plans and they have very good vision and deep insight into the future course of the business.

it started off with its search engine some time back and then it started expanding its footprint in different areas of web with the help of organic and inorganic growth.so much so that Microsoft is in shaky position.recently goggle announced that in some time its going to launch its own operating system which will be low cost,will run on lots of different applications and will be able to handle multiple environments,i heard that its going to be licence free like Linux.if that is true it will be very exciting time and it will be a win win situation for consumers.
talking about the web browsers, goggle seems to be taking the lead with its simplistic design of chrome.

the day i started using chrome i liked it because of it being less glossy,minimal complexity and everything seeming so clean and user friendly.i had some bad experiences with Mozilla fire fox as it used to crash quite often and took lots of time to open,while in chrome i get so many features and that too by using less space.

with so much R&D happening and money pouring in internet world,it will be very interesting to see the future course of this domain..

sundae on sunday!!

as i wrote earlier about my exam and that my book still being not with me,i am finally relieved that after sending some emails to the bookshop owner,it is going to be with me by tomorrow.i cant tell how she had made my life easy.you know when the exams are looming on your head and you dont have the book from which you need to prepare ,then suddenly how panicky the situation becomes.though the e-books were some solace to me as they too were also important ,this delay also gave me time to prepare them well.i am eagerly waiting to grab that book and start my marathon struggle.

today i was thinking that since the college has not yet opened then ideally what my 'would be batch mates' would be doing ,how they must be spending their times.may be somebody must be watching movie or reading some books,some must be lucky enough to go out on date or catch up with old friends over dinner and here i am,sitting in my room glued to my pc trying to understand some obscure supply chain management and operations technology on this lovely windy noon.

so how do i feel,feel like missing some fun or feel like isolated!i think i am feeling little different but definitely proud over what i am doing.to some part yes,thinking ambitiously does make my proud but other than that a majority part of my psyche is in a state of sense of achievement because i have been trying to study this pdf file of 200 pages since yesterday night and it is only this evening at 9 that i have managed to finish it.

this is only because i find management really interesting because here i am seeing things in a macro way and not in a micro way.i see the big picture instead of finding truth about semiconductors.this is really good.but it will take some time for me to understand exactly how should be my approach while dealing with mba subjects.it is more because they are way too subjective compared to engineering subjects..

nothing is obscure in mba,its all obvious and common sense but one has to ponder a lot and try to imbibe a habit of deep insight in the subject matter and one should try to ask questions with himself and learn to reason it out.this is very helpful in long run.nothing is absolute in mba,it is not that there are empirical formulae and you get that same answer over and over again which happens in engineering,in MBA by approaching the same questions by using different hypothesis you may come to different conclusions and guess what,they may be right..

the idea is to deal this body of knowledge in the way Socrates used to deal with his ideas of philosophy.for the starters to understand what i mean,there is a very good book called ' story of philosophy' by bill durant.
helps in management too.

as for now,going off too sleep with a pleasure feeling of having a brand new book with me..

apics register,goal review

so finally after a long ordeal of going through of finding which certification i am going to pursue ,i have finally decided that cpim is the way to go.to get this decision stamped,today i am going to send the dd of 11grands to the test organizing agency based in mumbai and my preparation for the exam starts from today full fledged.that means in a nut shell to get it cracking in a real big way i am eating,sleeping and drinking BSCM till my coll doesnt open.though ofcourse my target and my zeal is not going to end or lessen in anyway but i might not be able to give my 100%dedication from then onwards.

so the exam date is 19th sept and my coll is going to start somewhere around 24th of august.now i see that i have a complete 1 month with me to prepare.one month is really a good time provided i spend it wisely and efficiently.i have got enough material to get me going.unfortunately i have still not recieved the text book which is very importamnt because its not available anywhere and my search is still on..its really aggravating when you've been trying from last 10days and always hitting the end of the road.

today is also a good day for me because i finished reading 'the goal' ,a book about which i had written in my blog previously.to tell you how is it,the very first page i read,i was convinced that my money is worth every penny.

the book is about this guy who has to turn his factory or else they'll be fired and plant be shut down.the book has effectively delineated the various management tools like just in time,total quality management,theory of constraints and finding bottlenecks.these are the tools which any operations manager needs to achieve his GOAL which is making most profit by increasing throughput and reduced operating expenses.

i am delightted that this book has taught me so many lessons which are basic tenets of any production plant.the best thing is that the style of the book is not at all didactic but it is very informal and the whole thing goes through a very interesting story.this is something i feel as a prized possesion.i am going to need this book from time to time in my career to get back to the fundamentals.

i have bought another book by peter drucker,though i have never read drucker but i have heard a lot about him as 'modern managemnt guru',i am dying to read him,but i think that it will have to wait because of my new found commitment towards CPIM.who knows may be i can find some time somehow and quench my intellectual thirst.

as for now,its time to hit sack!!

banaras and varanasi!!

i am born and brought up in the holy land of shiva,varanasi.i have seen the city very closely since i was small hence i have a very good idea about this city in most of the aspects and with my growing up i have seen the city growing too albeit in a slow manner.i left this city 6yrs back and went to pune for my engg.

the city which i left then was growing at snail's pace,i have hardly seen it changing in over the years,and no wonder it was still the same when i left it.the roads are better called narrow lanes with cows and buffaloes lazying in the middle of it as if it is their thier own property,you can find numerous rickshaw pulleys,people sitting in their shops displaying their round bellies proudly with mouth filled with banarasi paan and because of lack of dustbins (or abundance of it),they are spitting it over the place,the traffic is so much that sometimes it seems that its going to stampede.
one more thing i'd like to emphasize is that due to lack of any source of entertainment,people back then used to frequent in all those old single screen theatres during weekends or they would visit their relatives and their idea of having dinner outside would be restricted to those few selected places which is so common that nearly everybody bumps into each other.

what i mean to say is that benaras(as its rightly called) is more or less a very typical small town of uttar pradesh displaying proudly all kinds of its backwardness ranging from people's dressing sense , their manners,their attitude and their lifestyle.

being born in this city these things should pose no difference to my perception of this city ideally but the reason i am writing this is because now when i have come back home after 6yrs and when i go out in the city ,i see the city has changed by leaps and bounds.the change is phenomenal in the parameters i just described above.
their are so many malls opened up that people can choose according to the locality they live in,their are so many eateries and stores for shopping,i mean when i juxtapose benaras 6yrs ago and varanasi now,it has really changed and it is very much visible.

to just give you an idea about the change in people's thinking,back then people were just never bothered about their food habits and they were pretty complacent with their life.it was one evening when i went to a grocery story to buy some food stuffs that i saw a fat Punjabi lady coming in in mid 30s flashing her expensive mobile phone and telling the shopkeeper "bhaiya ek brawn brad dena".i mean here i am wondering by looking at her,she looks as if she hardly keeps a check on what she eats ,but she is now so much particular about what she wants.it really makes me feel good,the city is coming of age finally.

thanks to globalization and increasing public's spending capacity and to the competion!!

CPIM on the way!!!

i know i am bit clumsy in writing blogs which is due to the fact that i am still not hooked to it.i literally have to say myself often that its been long time and its time i should pen down my thoughts.on the positive side,it gives me time to write about the developments happened in my so called bland life.

last few days has been quite good for me..i have a very bad habit of living life with a goal.if i see that there is no aim in my life then i become very frantic and this feeling sets me in the quest for finding one.

i have already written in my previous post that i am planing to do my mba in ops as my specialization.so i thought that when i still have so much of time with me before my coll starts ,then why should'nt i use this time in doing something constructive,something which adds value to my career.

after bit of research i found that there is a very good certification program meant for people who want to pursue their career in supply chain ,operations,logistics,inventory and not to mention ERP which is very booming nowadays.this certificate is carried on by APICS(www.apics.com) and is very much recognized by industries,helps during placements as it give you an edge because of the brand associated with it.

so i have finally decided that i will go for certificate in production and inventory management.this certificate consits of 5 modules after completion of which we can earn CPIM degree.my target is to complete all 5 modules withing my MBA time frame so that i can maximally utilize this during my placemnts.i have already started preparing for it and the exam is scheduled to be on 19th sept.
though i still am not in possesion of the book because its not available here in varanasi so i am getting it couried from delhi.that means another 4 days lead time(oops i am already into ops jargons,sorry bout that).

in the meanwhile i have made a plan to finish the book called"the goal" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt.its a very nice book about a factory manager who has got an ambitious deadline of turning around his sick factory.in that book he vividly describes about his management techniques .its particularrly useful for people in production and operations..

cant wait to grab my hands on it..

federer Vs roddik wimbledon final

man what a match it was.it was a complete treatise on Sunday for me.i watched the Wimbledon men final title fought between the great roger federer and Andy roddik.an amazing match and this match will do down in the pages of history as one of the best finals of Wimbledon.

it was also a match which is known for its record or sorts.federer has leveled a record of winning 6 grand slams and leveled record with great Pete sampras.he also hit most no of aces with 50 in no.it was also one of the longest match running over more than 4hrs.

i was enthralled by the ferocity in both the players with both of them fighting nail to nail till the end but federer being just indisputable proved in the end that he is world no 1.

both sides played equally well and it was very close match with no one of them losing any chance.the match went till 5sets with longest being the 5th set.
roddik also played amazingly and gave a tough time to federer with stretching from and making him run all over the court till the end and he played some amazing forehand strokes which is really a rare sight in tennis matches.it was a real grand slam final between no 2 and no6.

federer proved that he is an icon who is here to stay and clinched back his no 1 seed which he lost to nadal in a tearful end match.
the match was held in the star studded presence of legends like Bjorn Borg,Pete sampras,man u chairman etc.

i was guessing that the spectators at one point of time must be thinking whether this game is going to end ,though i did not watch the final set but i saw each and every set for 4hrs and the game was just magnificent.
federer is just legendary and i have formed tremendous respect for him from this match.it takes lot of will power,determination and hard work to regain your confidence and prove that you are still the no 1 and the fact that he is all of 27years.

a true Wimbledon final and a perfect way to feast your Sunday evening.i wanted nothing better than watching the greatest tennis players playing their best.

book review-losing my virginity

as the name suggests this book is an autobiography of Richard branson,the flamboyant British owner of virgin group.

this is a vivid tell-a-tale story of entire life of branson right from his early formative years till 2007.in fact the book is an year on year account of his story.it is beautiful and happy go lucky story about his innovative ideas,ability of transform his vision into a reality and the larger than life way of living.

A critic has rightly quoted this book that it grips you on the first page and never lets you go.
it is very beautiful description about the important incidents of his life right from his first magazine publication during his college years,his LSD trips,his philandering youth,his inherent entrepreneurial outlook,his across the world balloon trips,his start ups,philanthropy,business ventures and everything we needed to know as to how he achieved that feat.

i was really mesmerized by his lifestyle ,he proved to me that to achieve something you need to be smart that means presence of good common sense and not just college degree.he lived lavish lifestyle but he is also a shrewd businessman.

its a must read for anyone who is into entrepreneurship but on the down side it does not offer any management lessons and what hardships he faced.overall its a nice book to spend time on..

wedding holiday

the morning i returned from vipassana course i had to catch a train for bodh gaya to attend my cousin sister's marriage.i was hardly out of my silence of 10days and was still in that peaceful mode than i had to pack my bags and leave for the journey.though i was looking forward for this trip from quite a long time as i havent attended any mariage from really a long time.

but anyway ,everything was already made ready for me and i just had to change my clothes and get ready for the train.

the marraige was a great holiday for me,i caught up with all my relatives and closed ones whom i had never heard since years.it was another reason for a family reunion.we are a lots of people of more or less same age so it was a rocking time there.

an advantage being that the ceremony was held at historical place called bodh gaya which is where lord buddha recieved enlightenment,another being the fact that the rooms booked with air conditioned which was definitely a respite from such heat which i endured during meditation.

i must say i enjoyed each and every part of the time which i spent there,having fun with everybody ,helping my cousins with the petty jobs which are expected from us,capturing every moment of the ceremonies like mehendi rasm and tilak etc.

it was a good coincidence that dad's bday was on the very next day we arrived so i bought a huge 3 pound cake and with all the realtives present on his bday we celebrated in style.i am sure he must be very happy considering so many people witnessed that event,actually these things bring us all together and helps bring the sense of togetherness within us.

we had so much of fun playing mafia and villagers on the last day.i am bringing back so good memories which will be cherished for a long time.i did not realized when the time passed and it was time for us to leave.

it bought me a good case study to observe how a marriage is planned,what are the rituals,what things are needed,what are the costs incurred and most of all i learned how can you arrange a marriage in the best possible way while keeping your costs low.ofcourse it needs a careful and meticulous planning but with little more amount of careful thought you can make the whole process more easy and smooth.

that's what a manager's thought process like!!

vipassana meditation

from quite a long time i had been thinking to join this vipassana course for meditation because i had heard about it from lots of people,read in papers and internet.
in fact my closest friend Sid had attended this 10 day course once and when he came back he told me his experiences which sounded almost surreal and it made me more eager to experience the same feeling.back then in my mind the only thing which was running was that this meditation is a technique which will give me an out of body experience,some kind of hallucinations and i quixotically remained inclined towards it.i was always looking for a chance to join this course but never got 10 days to squeeze out from my semester. in fact i have written in my previous posts about how eager i am to join this course .i am really lucky in a way that after completing my engg i have got plenty of time to spare.on one day while i was going through one management forum where there were discussions by symbiosis MBA students, i got to know that there students were made to undergo this course compulsorily during the start of their semester.

before reading this i was bit apprehensive regarding joining this course.my concerns were very common like what if i loose the aggression and smartness which is needed for managers,what if i became a hermit and choose to live an austere life after the course and what if i leave non veg food,leave alcohol and this n that.
but after i got to know that MBA students are made to go for this course i made myself my resolute to join this one.i quickly checked for the batch commencement date on its site and found that 2 day later a course is starting at sarnath ,Varanasi .i was very happy,i asked my parents permission and went for this course.

about my experience:

unlike what people think vipassana is a course which is free from any religious ideology,social practice and ceremonies so people from any caste,creed,race can join this course for the betterment of their life.it teaches you an art of happy living.the idea is that you will still life the same life with same conditions but this technique conditions the mind in such a way that you can keep the negativity of life at bay,learn to live life by self observance i.e by just being aware about everything happening and performing all duties without creating unnecessary aversion and craving for anything.it helps concentrates the mind and increases your resolution and will power through its unique techniques.
the technique has few rules which are quite strict to follow but when they are observed in their purest form the maximum justification is guaranteed.it is a 10 day course during which everyone has to observe noble silence,eat only 2 times a day and live life like a bramhacharya.
it is tough but this rule helps to meditate more better and by this we introspect and find answers pertaining to our identity which this course helps gives us the answers about the ultimate truth about our being.
when i joined this course ,it was summer at its peak with 40-45degrees during day ,loo winds blowing and minimal power duing most part of the day.it became very tough for us to concentrate due to extreme weather as half of the time we were sweating.but through this course i learn how to keep equanimity even in worst times,how not to react and control your mind.it is hard to tell you how tough times i had been through during those 10 days but i am happy that i did not break any rules and tried to give my best during my stay though i could see that most of the people did break their silence on 3rd day.
i started to feel aversion during 3rd day and 4th day but it was at peak on 5th day when i couldn't get the technique right,it was hot as hell and i was feeling morally very down and out.so much so that i decided that i cant bear this all pain and i went the guruji to tell him that i am going to quit the course.
but he talked me through this and he helped make up my mind and gave me motivation which was enough to keep myself away from aversion and negativity which was entering my soul.
by and large my 1st experience which not very satisfactory largely because i went in wrong weather,because i wasn't much determined but i am still satisfied that i gained enough because now when i see myself i find that i am much more composed,calm and poised.
vipassana is the way of life and in future if i get time i will again go for this course.
for more info one can visit WWW.dhamma.org.