The confessions of a clueless mind

As the car turned in to the little road leading to the mound, Bob quipped " You really think your car would still be where you left it, after last night's storm? " " Well, it survived because the storm was in a hurry to go to the top. Pity the barn was almost razed " Kelly said. " What barn? " Bob was surprised. " Old Rupert's barn. That's where I spent last night, and that’s how I survived the storm. The old man's a nice guy, although you wouldn’t know by looking at him " Kelly smiled. " I have driven by this road several times, and I don’t remember seeing any barn. Are you sure? " he asked. " Of course, but I have to ask Rupert about Joe's garage. There is no such place " she continued. " Joe's Garage? That’s where my dad used to work. But how do you know about it? " he was surprised. " I went looking for Joe's Garage off the first exit, and couldn’t find anything. Just an old house...

It was almost an hour till Kelly finally spotted the highway. She had hoped to hitchhike a ride till the highway. But had ended up walking all the way till the highway since she hadn’t come across any motorist on the desolate service road. Her daily routine of morning jogs had come of great use to cover the 6 miles to the highway. When a trucker finally stopped to offer her a ride till the nearest Auto Service center, Kelly realized how tired she was when she gulped down an entire bottle of Gatorade to the amazement of the kind trucker. " How did a girl like you end up on that weird road leading to the old mound? " he questioned her. " I am looking for a mechanic to fix my car. Could you drop me till Joe's Garage, by the next exit? " Kelly pleaded. " I could, if there was any garage there. I don’t think there is any garage for the next 4 exits " he said. " Oh, I am told there is. So if you could drop me off at the next exit, I will find my way ...

Kelly got up, and walked up the dungeon. Her morning alarm had woken her up at sharp 5 AM, as had been her regimen everyday for the past 5 years. The storm had passed, but had left a wreck in its place. The whole cabin had been ransacked, and furniture thrown everywhere. She could see that the little cabin had put up a fight against the might of the storm, but had finally given in. The storm had reduced the place to a few standing walls, amidst a wooden wreck of debris. The roof had been mostly uprooted, and there were gaping holes in the few walls that had survived the storm. Rupert slowly managed to get up, and walk up to see the damage to his house. Unusually, his face did not betray any emotion. He seemed least bothered about the fact that his house had been wrecked. " This doesn’t look good Rupert. This place is gonna take a while to be restored. Maybe you should live in the town till the barn is rebuilt " Kelly tried to comfort him. " Don’t worry about me. I have f...

" Think it's going to rain real bad ", Rupert observed, looking at the dark clouds looming large in the evening sky. The mountains overlooking the horizon had become blurred, indicating that the clouds had already precipitated in the hills. The green view of the hills had turned into a mild shade of silver, due to the pouring rain. " Looks like the floodgates to heaven have opened ", quipped Kelly in reply. " Did you say heaven? " he asked with a wicked grin. " Huh? " shrugged Kelly, almost disinterested and lost in her thoughts. It had been a long day for her. She had driven the whole day to get back to Albany, from Orlando. Her best friend Kate had finally fallen in love, and had decided to marry Steven Bloom, the suave Television anchor on Fox. The wedding was a grand affair at Steve's private ranch in Orlando. She was still reeling from the late night partying that followed the lavish wedding. Steve had just been confirmed for a reali...

Yesterday, I finally resigned formally from the organization that I had given my blood and sweat to for the past 6 and half years . There was a strange sense of loss even as I was filling in the Separation Form. Having started my career as a junior software engineer, I graduated through the ranks to finally end up where I did. The journey, despite all the shortcomings and the denied opportunities, had its good moments. So many experiences. So many memories. So many changes that my life went through while I was part of this organization. Surely, IBM will remain very close to my heart. It wasn't the perfect organization to work for. But then no organization is perfect. The fact that I didn’t ever seriously think about quitting in the past 6 and half years is proof that there was something innately good about working for this organization. For all the good things about this place, there is one big aspect where this organization is a big letdown. And I am not even talking about salarie...

A special thanks to the two women who define my very existence. The mother and the wife . It's amazing how easy it is to take them for granted, just because they don't mind. Or even if they did, it doesn't matter since they will still continue to love us anyways. It's funny how we know that we take them for granted, and yet don't do anything to change it. But Men, being intelligent species, realized that sooner than later, it was inevitable that women would rebel. There was only so much that they would take, and once that limit was crossed, they would make life miserable for their men. At this point, a genius among the male species spoke. " How about setting aside one day in a year to appreciate the women of this world? That way they will also feel special, even if it's for only one day in a year ". Men being men, a few of them had apprehensions. " That leaves us with only 364 days of bossing around in a year. Aren't you asking too much from u...

Greg Chappell's unprovoked statements against Saurav Ganguly re-ignited what most of us Cricket-lovers thought was dead and buried. Just like Saurav Ganguly himself was, in the words of Kiran More , who clearly mentioned that Saurav will not be considered for selection in future irrespective of his domestic performances. Greg Chappell, in conversation with The Guardian , went on to talk about how important being the captain was to Saurav's life and finances. The not-so-clever use of the word " finances " triggered a whole new wave of outrage not only from the usual Saurav fans, but also from the Saurav bashers. Greg Chappell, through such unwarranted accusations, is proving himself to be the master of under-handed attacks. Remember, Greg Chappell was the captain who instructed his brother Trevor to bowl under-arm in an ODI against New Zealand some 25 years back . And we sure seem to be witnessing history repeat itself. What this whole incident did was to infuse new ...

March 05, 2006. Sunday. Around 7 PM. A family of 5 is driving back to Bangalore from Tirupathi, in their new car. A young man, all of 24 years, is behind the wheel, driving along the highway as he has so many times in the past. His uncle had bought a new car, and had planned to visit Tirupathi over the weekend with wife and twin daughters. Since he was known to be a very good driver, his uncle asked him to accompany them to the sacred shrine. On the way back, about 10 kms from Kolar towards Bangalore, he is driving through a series of treacherous curves on the highway. To avoid the muddy lane, he steers the car just a wee bit to the right, almost to the center of the road. An oncoming tanker appears out of the blind curve. Before he realizes, it's all over . A head-on collision so strong that it split the Santro into two halves. His uncle died on the spot with his skull busted open. He suffered internal bleeding, with ruptured testicles, and finally succumbed on way to the hospital...

The scales have almost completely titled in favor of my joining ISB , irrespective of the verdict from the US B-schools . Unless someone makes a tempting scholarship offer, I won’t probably change my mind about ISB. Despite the fact that it does not enjoy a global reputation yet, my reasons for preferring ISB are simple. - 15 Lac INR is a much lesser gamble than 60 Lac INR that a top B-School in US would cost. - That would also mean that I will have the freedom to take up jobs in India or abroad, since I won’t be buried in loans for too many years. - I will have more creative freedom to take risks in the pursuit of my entrepreneurial ventures, which I would have had to seriously compromise had I joined a US B-school due to the sheer magnitude of the debt that I would have incurred for the education. - Dr. R can practice her trade if I am in India, but can’t if I move to US. And as a responsible husband, I have to respect my wife’s career as well. - Finally, ISB is a 1 year program, ...