Family..How I Miss It

For 24 years and 6 months of my life, I was in the protective cocoon of my home and family. Around 3 weeks back my life took a dramatic turn and I landed in the US, all alone without any family member. That is when I realized the true meaning and importance of having your family close to you.

Don't get me wrong, I have always immensely loved and respected my family. However, there are quite a few things that I had taken for granted all these years. Also, there were things that I had become so accustomed to that I did not realize how much I will miss them. Small and trivial things, such as sitting  in my room and listening to my mom watching soap operas in her room, having silly fights with my sister, those 15 minute chatting sessions with my dad after he came home at 10.30 PM, Sunday dinners with everyone, my mom hugging me for no reason once in a while, etc. Also, there are so many chores that I never had to worry about when I was at home, such as washing the clothes, making my bed, breakfast/lunch/dinner, etc. Then there was the unconditional love you get from your parents, siblings and grandparents. I think there is no other place in this world where a person can be loved so truly and completely, and accepted with all of his/her imperfections, except your own home.

There were so many times when during arguments/fights with my parents, I would say to them, "I will be better off staying alone with no one to interfere in my life!" I admit how wrong I was. I now understand that it was their interference in my life that made it so smooth.I really miss those instructions that I received from my parents, all those advisories about where to go, when to be back home, what to do and what not to do, how to go about a problem, etc. In short, I miss their constant interference in my day to day life.

Probably for the first time in my life, I am independent and completely on my own, and that also in a country like the US. It sounds really exciting and fun, but for me it's not. It is hard surviving on your own with no one for moral support. It's hard knowing that no one is waiting for you at home and coming back to an empty house. It's hard not having your near and dear ones with you to discuss your feelings, your fears, and your apprehensions with. But it's the hardest just being away from your family!

I feel extremely lonely and scared. In the past few days, all I have been thinking about is whether I made the right decision by coming here to do my MBA and spending such a humongous amount of money. Will I be able to survive in such a competitive MBA program and get a good internship/job? How will I be able to live without my family for so long?

I don't know where life will take me and what will become of me. I guess I will figure out as I go along.

Signing Off,
Aastha

A Roller Coaster Ride!!!

If I say the last two months have been a Roller Coaster ride, it is an UNERSTATEMENT! Frankly, I don't have words to describe all that that's changed in my life in the last 60 days. According to my last post, here, I had been admitted to Yonsei University (South Korea's) Global MBA program and was supposed to join it from mid-August. That was the plan and everything was set. The Visa had been obtained (that part is a story in itself and deserves a separate post), the tickets were almost booked and I was ready.

Very happily, I went for my vacation to Singapore and Indonesia. It was an AWESOME trip and I had a blast!! I came back all relaxed and refreshed after 6-7 days. That was 25th June (Monday). On Wednesday (27th June) night, as I was returning from work I thought to myself, " Aaahhh...I feel so happy. My last day at work is 18th July and that gives me almost a month to spend with my family and friends before I go to South Korea. All the expenses have been taken care of my the university, I have on-campus housing, and my parents will be accompanying me to Seoul to help me settle down. Life's Good!" Alas, my relaxation was short-lived. On Thursday (28th June) night, at 11 PM, my cell phone beeped, indicating a new e-mail. I was in bed, reading a book and I just glanced at the screen. It said the mail was from a certain university in the US that I had been trying to get in desperately.

At first I thought it's just an advertisement either asking me to apply again this year, or giving out some general information. But something made me sit up and open my laptop to check the email. Very casually I opened the mail and started reading it. The content of the mail was mind boggling to me. I could not believe my eyes and so I read it again to look for some catch. But there was no catch. It clearly said that I had been admitted to the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University for their Full-time MBA program for Fall 2012!! I went numb for a few minutes, I just did not know how to react. Here I was, all set for going to South Korea and doing my MBA for free, and I suddenly get the admit to one of my dream universities, which is probably one of the most expensive ones too. When I regained my senses, I just barged into my parents room and shouted, " I don't why God can't let me live in peace for a few hours. Why does he have to jumble and complicate my life at every step!!" My parents got worried that probably the Korea people cancelled the admission or there was some other problem. But when I told them what had happened, they were as shocked as me. My dad immediately called all the people he knew in the US and asked what to do. Everyone advised the same thing, send her to the US!!
We discussed with people and amongst ourselves for 2-3 days, as to what next. On Sunday (1 July), it was decided that I will join Tepper. Thus began the Herculean task of collecting all the documents, showing funding (since there is no scholarship, I was to show funds of around $150,000), sending the various documents to the university, getting the Visa etc.

The whole process that I described above generally takes 2-3 months, but I had only 20-25 days to do everything since my classes started from 1 August. So, after running from pillar to post for 5-6 days, my family managed to collect the stipulated funds (mind you, just to show the university, not to use!) and I sent my funding information to the university. I received my I-20 (the most important document for getting the Visa) in another 5-6 days. Finally, I had my Visa interview on 20 July (Friday) and had the US Visa in my hand on 23 July (Monday). My flight was booked for 27 July (Friday) night, and I had another mammoth task in front of me - shopping and packing!! Somehow I did that in 4 days, caught the flight for the US and reached here on Saturday night (the journey was a nightmare and will be described in detail in a new post).

So, today I have officially completed one week in the US and have started with the orientation program. How do I find the country, the city, the school, the classmates, the program?? - Well, hard to tell right now. I am giving myself a few days to adjust and stop feeling homesick. Let's see how it goes. Hopefully, I will try to update the blog more regularly from now!

Signing Off,
Aastha Sobti
Full-time MBA Student, Class of 2014
Tepper School of Business
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
USA

General Information

I don't have anything specific to write about. So, I thought I'll just give all of you an update on the various happenings in my life over the last few months.

Quite a few interesting things have happened since March and life has constantly been a roller-coaster ride. But I will tell you only about the three most important changes that have occurred.

1. ADMISSION: After spending loads of money on applications, giving several admission tests, writing innumerable essays, and giving several interviews I finally gained admission in an MBA Program. In August, I will be heading to Yonsei University, South Korea to pursue my MBA!! I know it is a little unconventional, but the university is quite prestigious, the program is well-structured, placements are good, and I am getting a good ROI (return on investment).

2. PROMOTION: After slogging for months and working my ass off, I was finally promoted to the post of an Assistant Manager!! I was definitely quite ecstatic to have that word 'Manager' in my designation :P It feels different to actually manage projects and analysts. Contrary to popular opinion, it is a lot of hard work and quite challenging, but fun at the same time.

3. RESIGNATION: Three day after being promoted, I put in my papers and resigned from my company. To be truthful, it feels weird, as I have been associated with the company for almost three years now and it is my first job. To think that I have only about a month left there, it feels unreal. Well, I had thought that the day I resign was going to be the happiest day and I am going to jump up with joy, but I have mixed feelings. I will be leaving behind some really good friends and people that have come to matter a lot to me.

Presently, I am quite busy preparing to go to South Korea. There's so much to do - Visa formalities, housing applications etc. etc. and the time is flying.

So, to take a break from all the madness, I am headed for a family vacation to Singapore and Indonesia next Sunday. Will catch-up with the blogging world when I'm back.

Ciao!!
Aastha Sobti
Global MBA Student, Yonsei University
South Korea

Revolution 2020 - A Book Review

I read this book (if you can call it that) a few weeks ago and thought jotting down my opinion of it.

Revolution 2020 is the fifth book written by India's most celebrated and popular "English language author" Chetan Bhagat. Personally, I am not a big fan of his writing, on the contrary, I quite dislike it. However, I accept that I have read all his books. The question is, if I do not like anything about the books he writes, why do I read them? Simply because, they are no-brainers and easy to understand. So, if you are in the mood of reading some very light-hearted books, which do not require you to apply even an iota of the gray matter present inside your head, then I would recommend you pick one of his books and read. I am dead sure that after you are done with his book, you will crave to read something intelligent and worthy.

So, coming back to the book. If I had to describe it in a single sentence, that is, if I had to write a review on twitter, it would say:

"Revolution 2020 is a readymade Bollywood script, waiting desperately to be made into a masala movie by some celebrated Indian director."


The book is a love triangle between three childhood friends—Gopal, Aarti and Raghav. Predictably, one of them is poor, lives with an old and ill father, and has only enough money to have two meals a day. The other two are from well-off families, but never let their friend feel inferior. Now, the two guys want to become engineers, and obviously slog hard to get admission into IIT. The rich friend cracks it while the poor one doesn't. As it happens in most of the Hindi films, the girl also falls for the rich friend. After this, the book is nothing but a tale of love, betrayal, infidelity, and sacrifice. There is a hero, a villian and a damsel in distress.

There are a few positives in the book. First, the story is set in Varanasi, and the author has given a good description of this holy Indian city. He has, to some extent, tried to describe the emergence of a modern Indian city from the religious and traditional city of yesteryears. It is interesting to read how a city, which is considered to cleanse a person from all his/her sins and open the doors of heaven for people, is itself so dirty and corrupt. The other thing I liked about the book is the way Chetan Bhagat has shown the extent of corruption at various levels in the Indian education system. Although the explanation is very simple and straightforward, I, for the first time, understood the reason behind the sudden spurt of private engineering colleges at every nook and corner of India. What goes on behind the scenes, how each person is bribed, basically the whole corporate business of education has been described. It was a little shocking to read that even teachers are bribed to teach in these private colleges. Thirdly, the book also gives a glimpse of a student's life during the pre-engineering entrance examination phase. How a student's whole life suddenly depends on your rank in various exams, how the so-called "coaching centres" make money by showing students the dream of getting into an IIT or an equally good college, and what all do most of the students—who are not able to crack the exams—have to go through. I could distinctly remember the time when I was going through the same. The stress, the expectations, the joy, the disappointments, everything came alive while reading this part of the book. As far the positives go, that's about it.

Overall, the story is very mediocre. It seems that the author has written it simply to please some hot-shot director/producer like Karan Johar, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and Yash Chopra, to rope in two Khans, and a glamorous actress, and make a Bollywood potboiler out of it.
Further, to give a modern feel to the book and supposedly "connect" with the readers, the author has used too many profanities. The "F" word has been used liberally throughout the book (once in every 2–3 pages), irrespective of whether it is required. There are also some common Hindi expletives used at the same time, to give some characters a rustic feel.
Also, as is a routine in all Chetan Bhagat novels, a love-making scene has been written, just to please the average reader. Although it seems to be an integral part of the "plot", in my opinion it was not needed at all.

I would give the book a rating of 4 out of 10!

I Absolutely LOATHE "that person"!!!

I had never thought I would write something like this for someone. But, "that person" has forced me to vent out all my anger, hatred, extreme dislike, and detestation against him/her on this blog.

I swear to god I have never felt like doing physical harm to anyone. However, today my limits were tested to the maximum, and if "that person" had said another word, I would done something truly inappropriate such as slap/kick/abuse "that person"!!!!

"That person" is the filthiest creature on the face of this earth, and I am waiting for that day when I will be able to say this on his/her face!!! Calling "that person" a bitch/dog is nothing but an insult to the canines.

I have been mentally tortured at the hands of "that person" for over two years, and now my control has reached a tipping point. I don't know for how long will I be able to keep myself in check. I pray to god that "that person" does not cross my path at least for the next few weeks or else there will be a very unpleasant scene!!

I utterly and truly wish ILL of "that person". Whatever has happened to "that person" in the past is nothing but the result of all of his/her karma and "that person" truly deserved it!!!!

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu....Agneepath

I recently saw two movies, the names of which form the title of this post. They are as different from each other, as two movies can be. Basically, if Agneepath is Chalk, then EMAET is definitely Cheese. But both of them are equally engrossing, interesting, and very well-made movies. The best part is that they have been produced by the same production house—Dharma Production (Karan Johar's company)—and both have been directed by debut directors. Since I was at a loss of topics once again, I thought of writing a mini review for both of them.


Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu


If I had to describe this movie in one phrase, I would say it is a 'feel good movie', simply because it leaves a smile on your face, and feeling good about yourself. The story, as you all must have read/heard/seen by now, is very simple and uncomplicated. There are no larger-than-life heroes in it, just real-life ordinary characters. On the contrary, the "Hero" of the film (Imran Khan as Rahul) is introduced as a guy who would in all probability, be called a Loser in reality. Rahul himself is shown to be quite irritated and frustrated with himself on being just Average, while his parents want him to be super talented and extraordinary. I am sure most of us (out of those who have watched the movie) must have identified with Rahul—I know I did. But, as the movie progresses it tells you that it's not bad at all to be average. As Kareena Kapoor's character (Riana) says to Rahul, " Average ka matlab ki tum kuch bhi kam ya zyada nahi karte." This is such a different perspective, that I was actually nodding my head in agreement on this statement. Further, the movie has no dramatic moments, and no so-called high power scenes. The movie unfolds slowly and flows smoothly; you move along with the flow and get intertwined in the stroy of Rahul and Riana.

For me, there were two highlights of the movie. First was undoubtedly Kareena Kapoor!! She is just brilliant! I feel she has inherent spontaneity, flamboyance, and the spark to carry off any kind of roles. I loved her as Riana. In my opinion, Riana's character is a mature version of Geet from Jab We Met, because Riana has gone through a lot in life but she still has that zeal and passion in herself to meet her goals, and knows how to be happy. Although everyone has acted well (even Imran Khan!!), Kareena is easily the best. Second highlight for me was the climax of the movie. It is very unconventional, non-bollywoodish, and very apt I must say. In fact, after a long long time I saw a movie that leaves you wanting and craving for more. EMAET is very short, 1 hour 40 minutes running time, and I wouldn't have minded if it were longer by 20–30 minutes.

Agneepath


This movie is a typical Bollywood potboiler and an out-and-out commercial masala movie. It has all the ingredients of a superhit Hindi film. There's Action, Emotion, Romance, Tragedy, Comedy, Revenge, and Drama all mixed together. The result is a WOW! movie, which will leave you breathless. The strength of this movie easily lies in its actors. What brilliant acting by all of them—Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt, and Rishi Kapoor. The surprise factor in this impressive line-up is Rishi Kapoor as Rauf Lala. He deserves a standing ovation for the way he has portrayed this negative character, just Amazing. And yes, how can I not talk about Sanjay Dutt, who as Kancha Cheena has given his best performance after Vaastav. He looks menacing, scary and every bit as evil as he is meant to be. Although it has been touted as an action movie, for me it was a heart wrenching tale of a family wronged by a cunning man. I think I have not cried so much in a movie ever! I was wiping my eyes after every 10-15 minutes. Another very different aspect of this film is that the "Hero" is not your typical self-righteous law abiding common man, but is more of an anti-hero who works with smugglers, is involved in trade of cocaine, and does not think twice before killing someone. No doubt there is a lot of violence in the whole movie, but you don't feel disgusted and are on the edge of your seats for most part.

However, there is one sore point in Agneepath, and that is the Chikni Chameli song. I have nothing against the song as such, but the actor—Katrina Kaif. She looks so out of sync with rest of the set up and feel of the song. She has no grace and the dance looks crass and vulgar. I am sure Rakhi Sawant or Malaika Arora Khan would have done a much much better job than Katrina. Apart from this, the movie is fantastic!

There is no comparison between the two movies. Both are fabulous and brilliant in their own sense. I would recommend people to watch both of them to get a feel of the diversity of Indian cinema.

Signing Off,
The Movie Buff!

I Hate December!!!

Yes, yes..Before you all spell it out for me, I agree that this post is officially 2 weeks late. Half of January has already passed by, and now I come around to write about December. In my defense, let me clarify that I had written and re-written it in my mind around 3 weeks back, but could not get it on my blog, because of—a cliched answer—lack of time. I had eventually thought of not writing this post at all, but then I realized a few things:
1. I did not have any other topic to write on.
2. My blog had gone too long without an update.
3. Better late than never!
4. It's MY blog, so that gives me the liberty to write about anything I want. :-) :-)

OK, enough of blabbering. Now back to the topic at hand. For majority of the world population, the month of December is considered to be the best among all the 12 months. It is the last month of a year—so it's seen as a month of festivals, parties, vacations (for some people at least), generally a good time. But for me, December has turned out to be the worst month, at least for the last two years. Even before 2010, I was not too fond of December simply because it signifies the official arrival of Winters—a season I absolutely HATE!! There's nothing I like about this season. The fog, the chilly winds, the fruits (Orange - YUCK!!), just about everything. However, the last two Decembers, that is, 2010 and 2011 have been disastrous for me personally in one way or the other. Let me take you through each of them separately.

December 2010: This month spelled doom for me on the professional front. I got staffed on the most horrible project to date, which got screwed up badly (partly due to my fault, but majorly due to someone else). On top of that, I got such a PL (project lead), that I don't have words to describe. Let me just say that for the first time, I cried (yes, actually cried with tears pouring down my face) over office work—both at home and in the office itself. It was a lesson in firsts for me, because I experienced certain things for the very first time in my life:
 - I stayed in office till 9 or 10 PM everyday for 4 weeks straight.
 - I did a night-out in office, meaning that I arrived at 8.30 AM and left at 6.00 AM the next day.
 - I worked on all the weekends in December 2010, for minimum 12 hours each, on Saturday and Sunday.
 - I made stupid mistakes in my work, which I would normally never do.
 - I got scolded by my PL on more than one occasion, through all communication means possible—face-to-face, through e-mail, on the phone, on the IM, etc.
 - I got the worst possible feedback I have ever received in my professional life.

You can very well imagine my state. Each and everything that took place during that time is engraved in my memory in agonizing detail. It suffices to say that I still shudder whenever I remember any instance of that period. Believe me I am not exaggerating when I say that I still sometimes get nightmares about that project, and wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead.

Till two months after the project ended, I was very scared and unsure of my work, with zero confidence on my capabilities.I am still surprised that I survived through that ordeal at work, and eventually gained my self-confidence back.

December 2011: This was again the worst month of 2011 for me. On the professional front, it was perfect (except for the first week, but that's something else altogether). I got easy projects with an Awesome PL, and some really cool feedbacks. However, on the personal and home front, it was all screwed up! There were too many fights and too many unpleasant scenarios. After controlling my temper and not fighting with anybody for 4 months (which is no mean feat, considering that I am famous, or rather infamous, in my family for arguing with my folks at least thrice a week), all hell broke lose. I fought, shouted, screamed and yelled on petty things, had some nasty fights with my parents. I don't know what happened, maybe some chemical imbalance,  but it was like everybody is out to provoke me and calling for a fight. Basically, it was a very stressful, frustrating and unpleasant month for me.

Things got much much better with the start of January, and have gone uphill since then.

I just hope 2012 breaks the December jinx for me! I am positively tired of this month, and the new trials it brings with it.

So, which is your least favorite month of the year? Do let me know.

Signing Out,
December Fearing Soul!