Yesterday, in a bid to understand why exactly I didn’t like my investment banking job at JP Morgan and subsequently rejected their full time offer, I started going through my blog archives of april-june 2005. I knew I had written extensively about my frustration at the job, and thought going through these archives might provide some answers.
Continue reading “A collection of random thoughts, from the summer of 2005”
There are basically two kinds of people in the world – studs and fighters. At the outset, let me clarify that they are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive. Those that are neither stud nor fighter usually end up as losers, so let’s leave them out of the analysis. People who are both stud and fighter are special. Found extremely rarely. Hence let’s leave them out too.
Trying to analyze the NED which had hit me a few weeks back, and has partially stayed on, I think I’ve come up with a framework (yes I was a management consultant for three months) to try explain how life can get messed up. It’s some kind of a building structure (insert whatever is appropriate here – skyscraper or pyramid or whatever).
Continue reading “A framework to understand quality of life”
It’s not too often that i write a serious story. I can’t recall having written too many of them. They take too much time to write, you need to go through multiple iterations, and you need a good storyline.
I have been working on one such for the last six months. The first draft came out in early june. the inspiration for the story comes from a personal experience of course. The characters in the story are BASED ON real people. The story itself, though, is a work of fiction and any resemblance it bears to any real incident(s) is unintended and purely coincidental. I begin.
Dear _______,
Hope you remember me. We had seen each other briefly during the Landmark Quiz at Bangalore on November 1st this year. The first time I saw you outside the auditorium, when I was waiting to be let in. For the first time in many years (don’t know how many), my heart skipped a beat when I saw someone. I must say you look breathtaking. Gorgeous. And add to that you attend quizzes! Couldn’t be better!
Briefly forgot all about you as i cribbed to Dushyanth about our juniors at IIMB. Then got to the task at hand and cracked the prelims. You were still out of sight, out of mind. And then I qualified for the finals. Was part of the team “vidi vici veni” (or some such stupid thing Dushyanth had come up with). Team 8.
I clearly remember that you were sitting in the second row close to where I was on stage. Remember establishing eye contact with you during the course of the quiz and maybe exchanging a smile or two while I was on stage. For the length of the finals I was up there, I drew my inspiration from you.
Then shit happened. Derek, as is his wont, chucked us out of the finals mid-way through the quiz. I remember hopping off stage and parking myself in the second row, a few seats away from you. We were separated by some guy who’d accompanied you, Shamanth and aadisht. The eye contact continued. I clearly remember us exchanging a few more smiles for the rest of the quiz. I also remember explaining a couple of answers to you. All the pain of not having done well in the finals was erased.
Then the quiz ended. I have this idiotic habit of drinking a lot of water, especially when it is provided free. As a result, I had gotten quite pissed off and rushed to the men’s room. By the time I emerged, you were gone. Lost in the madding crowd. Lost forever?
____ (I don’t even know your name), if you are reading this (I sincerely hope you are), please drop in a comment with contact details. It is after more than a year that I have had a crush on someone. And it would be really tragic if the story I have narrated above didn’t have a continuation.
Lots of love,
Karthik
Have noticed this strange phenomenon in the course of the last one and a half years. Something vinod bhaskaran has christened “rental”. Rental of girlfriend/boyfriend I mean. Becomes especially significant in a place like IIMB where most people live in hostel and away from their near and dear ones.
According to Vinod, rental can be described as a process where a girl and a guy get really close to each other (as close as two people who are gf-bf) but both know that there is no chance of a permanent settlement. Typically at least one of them is already committed, which helps clearly define the terms of the contract.
Have seen quite a few instances of such rentals here in IIMB. First instance I saw was between a classmate with a bf abroad and a senior with a gf in bombay. Then, this other classmate, with a bf in Delhi, has entered into rental agreements with not one but THREE guys in my class. And now that all three of them are out on exchange, she’s entered into a short-term contract with a FOURTH guy. Mahabharata rocks!
The most weird thing i’ve seen with this female who’s actually reasonably close to me. She has an on-campus bf and they’re going really strong. Now, for the past month he was busy organizing a fest and she decided to take his best friend on rent!
For an ‘outsider’ who has never entered this kind of contracts, it seems really funny. But i guess there must be some logic to this. Too lazy to figure it out though!
Yeah, and I think a few people I’ve referred to in this post might be reading this. Researching armor.