This is my 22nd year of existence on the face of the Earth and I can, quite certainly, say that none has been as special as 2008 has been. There are a lot of reasons, good and bad.

The learning that I could get from experiences in 2008 was enormous. Something that has never happened to this extent so far.

Here’s what I’ve learnt.

1. Never exercise anger immediately. When feeling angry, postpone the impulsive action for 30 minutes. See if the anger still exists. If it does exist, go ahead. Otherwise, get on with life.

2. Always know clearly as to where to draw the line between friends and best friends and between friends and acquaintances.

3. Never judge a person by mere looks. That is the worst way to do it! At the same time, never under-estimate anyone. You never know who would become what tomorrow.

4. Be egoistic if you want to, but never show out anything. It doesn’t help one bit.

5. If someone praises you, don’t blindly brush aside the praise. If you deserve it, take it. There’s nothing wrong. If you dont’ deserve it, pass it on to someone who really deserves it.

6. Never say die. There is always more than one way to do anything in the World!

7. Never talk to people about your aspirations. Keep them within yourself until they have materialized!

8. Don’t postpone anything! You never know if you’d live to see the light of the next day.

9. There is no point talking/cribbing about anything. Get down to action! That’s all that matters!

10. Dont’ get over excited/enthusiastic about something and end up over-pressurizing/irritating peers.

11. Finally, Don’t assume XYZ is your friend/best-friend because XYZ talks well and treats you well. Never ever! There are a lot more things to it. Don’t decide hastily.

Apart from the gyan, there are also a few memorable incidents that have given me the energy to go on with life.

1. The fun that I had with Arun during the project days. We ended up putting slides in a different random order for each review and got the staff mad at us! Changed the algorithm on University Review day just before the External Examiner came to see our project! There were time when I lost interest in the project and Arun has to be given due credit for pulling me into it whenever necessary.

2. Signed up to become a Mozilla Campus Rep. Did little ground work in the end. Contributed to their forums and bug billboard.

3. Started this blog and ‘officially’ started blogging.

4. People like Srinath V, LVS, Arun, Pavithra, Sowmiya, Ash, Sathya and GAPP have influenced my life and lifestyle a lot. They have to be given due credit as well. Some have shown me my positive side and some have shown me my negative side. I’m grateful to each one of them in a distinct way.

5. Dropped Infy. This was something I never realized I could. It’s not something great when looked at in general. Lots of people do it now-a-days. But for me, I never knew I had the courage to take a risk in life. All these years, I’ve been a very safe player doing things the no/little risk way. The encouragement I got from friends has been something startling.

6. Worked hard for MBA. This is another thing I’ve not done in life. I’ve never WORKED HARD for something related to academics so far. Whatever I’ve gotten in School and College has been only what I could do with an ordinary effort, nothing phenominal. The first time I worked hard for academics was while preparing for my MBA entrance tests. For many, MBA entrance tests might not be tough at all. But for me, they are. I do have to admit that I’m just about above-average and I’ve worked really hard this year. Really hope something materializes in the coming days/months.

7. Started the SIT with Srinath V. This is another thing I’m proud of. We have managed to put the idea from paper to practise in these 8 months. We have learnt a lot lot through various experimental measures. Although it isn’t formally an NGO yet, I would say we’ve managed to create a good NGO model for the SIT through a (severely-battered) learning process over the last 8 months. We do have to thank all those who’ve stood with us and helped us do things without expecting any tangible returns. We have set a few personal targets w.r.t the SIT for 2009. I am only hoping that we manage to reach all of them soon.

8. This is more of a learning through a set of events. I’ve learnt that there is no use running behind a single short-sighted target most of the time. I was looking around for a single solid internship in marketing for about 2 long months. Around June-July I guess. Nothing really materialized. I lost heart and dropped the idea as such. Now, in hindsight, I realize that I have learnt a more about Marketing and People’s Minds in the last 6 months than what I had expected to learn from any internship. Maybe I would’ve learnt more from an internship but my personal expectations are met and that’s all that matters.

Apart from all this, there is one thing that has been a bit disappointing for me. Arun left India on July 28th 2008. I couldn’t get to meet him even once during his last week in India (before leaving for the US). Now, it looks like I won’t be able to meet him for the next 2 years! The same goes for Navneeth as well!

In all, 2008 has been THE single most important year in my life for both good and bad reasons. It will be long remembered in my mind as one year that largely shaped me.

Yours Skeptically,

P.S. I’m tired of using ubuntu live for 2 weeks now. Is Windows XP even available anywhere in Chennai?

It’s been a very long time since I wrote a blog post, let alone a meaningful one.

Have I lost interest in blogging? Have I no time? I really dunno. I’m not able to draw the line as to why exactly it’s been so.

Anyway, a lot of things have happened since then.

AUG 3rd 2008: I get hold of about 90 odd mock papers from Pavithra’s place.

AUG 4th 2008: I devise a plan of action for the next 3 weeks.

AUG 5th 2008: Implementation of the plan starts.

AUG 11th 2008: Infosys decides to call me for joining on Sept 8th 2008.

AUG 12th – AUG 24th 2008: I’m stuck in the worst dilemma of my life, so far.

AUG 14th 2008: I fill up and send the application for for MAT. There are no colleges worth applying under MAT. I’m just taking it to stay in the ‘exam mood’.

AUG 15th 2008: Landmark Quiz! yay! Going for a quiz after a really long time with LVS and Teal. We get about 21 on 40, a record high w.r.t our team.

AUG 16th  2008: The Times of India (Chennai Edition) carries a news story about the Society for Intellectual Thinking.

AUG 17th and AUG 24th 2008: A lot of new members of all ages and from all facets of society turn up for SIT meetings. Srinath and I are happy that things have finally kicked off big time!

AUG 24th 2008: I take the firm decision to set the Infosys offer aside and prepare hard for an MBA this year. A very difficult decision at this point in life for me. Also, a very difficult decision for the over-cautious and impulsive decision maker that I am. [ Of course, as always, I have the bus tickets to mysore and my Infy call letter hard copy. I can still take the offer if I want to! ]

Today, my typical day has a mock test from 9 – 12 AM, Sleep from 1 – 3 PM, Sectional workouts from 4 – 6 PM, TIME’s Crash Course from 6 30 – 8 30 PM, Sectional workouts from 10 30 PM – 2 AM. Finally, Sleep from 2 01 AM to about 8 AM. I squeeze in the Mock paper correction and analysis somehow somewhere in the middle.

Yours Skeptically,

P.S. This time I’m skeptical about the fact that I won’t be able to score very well in CAT 2008.

I can understand that it’s been a very long time since I wrote a good purposeful post on this blog. About 3 weeks or so.

I’ve seriously gotten a bit tight with my time management. I’ve put my hands into a lot of things and as usual, am trying to balance all things.

Infy hasn’t called yet and that has given me time to prep well for my MBA entrances. As far as speculations go, I would have to join Infy earliest by Oct first week. Until then, I’m hoping to do a good bit of prep.

One hour of browsing each in the morning, evening and night should do I guess. One movie a day should gimme enough entertainment. Folks at home are also ordering a STB/DTH system sometime this week. I will certainly have to walk the tight rope with that distraction. Let’s see. I am just hoping I can pull it off.

Other than all that, Arun has left to chase his dreams in the US. Navneeth and Sudhir are leaving this week. That leaves me with Raja, Sundar, Naveen and Praveen w.r.t my college gang. We’re in no position to leave India atleast for a year from now. So, that’s about it.

Although I don’t value any of the ‘day’s including my own birth’day’, Happy Friendship Day to you all!

Yours Skeptically,

P.S. This is also not a purposeful post.