At precisely 3 in the night on 4th May 08, I kick-kick-kick-kick (…10times) started my bike to reach New Delhi Railway station by 4 in the morning. The objective was simple; I had made up my mind to leave Delhi for good and was carrying this last token of 200 Kgs to अजमेर . And inspired by the TV serial “Prison Break” I decided to take the motorcycle to अजमेर without the help of any agent and without giving even a rupee of bribe.
So I reached the station at 4 AM and was quite surprised to find it buzzing with activity even at that odd time. I had already come to this place a day before to know the formalities to be done for taking the bike along in शताब्दी Express. The first step was to get it packed so I thought to search for some worker on platform # 12. One accosted me even before I could start. He asked 150 Rs for the work. I’m not good at bargaining so told him 120 and not a paisa more. He was visibly excited by this offer and I got that feeling ki I-lost-in-this-bargain-game-even-though-I-won. Anyways, considering the odd time I thought कि चलता ही . This guy, a certain A K Jha from पटना बिहार , had done a good job and made my bike ready, along with a number place by 4 30 AM.
At almost the same moment, a Labrador also reached platform number 12. He was destined for Chandigarh and would travel by Chandigarh Shatabdi express. Now every parcel that goes in luggage van has to be packed and labeled. While I was lucky to find a porter who had the material (used clothes and boris) for my Pulsar, no one could find a suitable material for the dog, who looked a bit perplexed. So they decided to keep him free of shackles but a name plate was assigned to him which was promptly hung on his neck. My bike’s name plate read,” CH 03 Q 8770 Ajmer शताब्दी , from NDLS to AII” . His read, “HARDY, Dog, चंडीगढ़ Shatabdi, from NDLS to CHD”.
Anyways my train was supposed to leave at 6 10 Am. I was quite confident to catch my train in time and it seemed that Hardy’s assistant was sure too. I’m not very sure if Hardy had a understanding of the events, but that’s a different matter.
So we were supposed to meet a certain ‘Babu’ to get our parcels ( read bike and dog) registered. In the parcel office they directed us to go to platform 13’s end point to meet the babu. We were assured that in a jiffy our work shall be done. So happily I set out for the labyrinth of platforms to meet a certain Mr उपेन्द्र बाबु . Hardy and his assistant were also in the same boat. The three of us (and my bike as well) made our way to the end of the maze only to find another बाबु sleeping. He directed us back to the parcel office as Mr उपेन्द्र had still not arrived, so what if it was 5 15 Am and he was supposed to be here by 4 15. I cursed the system and went back in the Labyrinth. We found Mr. उपेन्द्र at the parcel office and requested him to please book the parcels - Pulsar and Hardy the dog.
Hardy was not in a good mod after an early morning walk of 5 Kms. Even I was not in a good mood because of the same reason. While Hardy was looking at the hullabaloo at station with big sad eyes, I was looking at Mr. Upendra with my 4 eyes. Upendra asked me to fill up a form which I promptly did. He pointed out some mistakes which I corrected. He again pointed mistakes, I again rectified them. This went on some more times. By the time he was done with finding mistakes, it was 5 45 Am and my pocket was lighter by 495 Rs. I really really wished that if Hardy bit him now; how great it would be. After having this sadistic early morning dream I realized that my train was to leave in 20 minutes.
In the meantime Hardy was supposed to be weighted. His assistant took him to a weighing machine. Since we were now at the platform, only a coin operated one was available. Hardy was made to sit on it. It was ensured that all four paws were on the weighing scale. The Machine made a lot of ruckus that startled Hardy who tried to flee. But you know, no one could escape Mr Upendra’s पारखी eyes (Big brother is watching you). He made hardy sit straight on the scale and took his weight again. The weight ticket had 35 Kg printed on one side and मल्लिका शेरावत ’s 100 DPI low quality Image on the other side. I’m not sure which side of the ticket made Mr. Upendra smile. Anyways all said and done, I and Hardy departed our separate ways.
And in case you wondered, neither Hardy’s assistant or I, paid any bribes J
“Packing the bike – 120 RS
Parcel Wage -- 495 RS
Waking 3 in the morning + walking 5 kms on station with a bike + meeting Hardy – Priceless
There are some things money can’t buy, for others MasterCard certainly won’t work at the New Delhi Railway Station”
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
RG asked me a couple of days back,” How come you know so much about so many things? How come your GK is good and how come you have some cogent points on so many diverse topics?”
Even I thought about the issue, and then I traced myself to this …
When I was 14 years old, a question that had been in my mind since I read about human life in class 2 got finally answered। I always wondered,” how are humans different from animals? We both are just multicellular organisms who have the same sensations and physical needs. We both are driven by same desires of food, water, air & sexual needs. We both are afraid of death and pain. We have everything common, except that probably Homo Sapiens are a more sophisticated form of life. So are we no different from animals at all?” I remember asking mummy the same question. She said that humans are humans and animals are animals. She said that they are different but her answer couldn’t satisfy me.
After thinking about the issue at various levels of consciousness, I arrived at the same conclusion that Descartes did in the 17th century. Cogito, Ergo Sum. Obviously I was blissfully unaware of the exact meaning and originator of the phrase at that time. However I realized that the ‘desire to learn, the wish to improve and the zeal to know’ are the central reason that humans are different from animals. And I think that when I was in my early teens, this answer dictated the manner in which I saw education ad learning. I think this, coupled with another incident, transformed me from a back bencher and last rankers in school to the topper in board exams. (The first time that I stood first or even amongst the top 5 in class was in boards exams, 1999)
The principle was simple। I decided that I shall leave no stone unturned in the persual of education. I wanted to know more about this world. About everything. I wanted to know about science. How the solar system was created? How does the human body work? How are colors created? I wanted to know about history. How are nations made? Why does a country succeed or fail? Who created the beautiful monuments? Who went to war with whom? I wanted to know about philosophy. About relations, about literature, about each and every damn idea, tangible/intangible thing. And to accomplish this I started reading. I read EVERYTHING. From comics to newspapers to hand outs to posters on walls to even government reports and legal cases files (in revenue board’s library). And still I wanted to read more.
People would get bored in engineering classes. They would say,” क्या फालतू कि चीज़ है engineering? कितनी boring है !” Sometimes I found things tough (GD/AECD) but NEVER did I found them boring। I used to ask each and every doubt that crossed my mind in class, however Naïve or foolish it might sound to others। I participated in almost all extra curricular activities. I made innumerate friends. I tasted wine from so so many cups.
Then I came to MBA। Those classes that interested me, I attended them by sitting on the first bench. And so many things interested me. I liked statistics, QMDM, Economics, Saikat’s Marketing, ITO, and ITL amongst others. And then when I had finished with them, I would sit with the juniors to attend their courses. I even took some marketing classes. None of them gave me any marks. None of them show on my mark sheet. But I think in the persual of knowledge, I learnt even more.
My Montage (people write things about their classmates at the end of MBA course) says, “No one knows what he wants. Not he and not even God. Believes in networking only with great people”. I smile. Probably only I amongst my classmates know what I want, right from the time when I was 14 years old.
Even I thought about the issue, and then I traced myself to this …
When I was 14 years old, a question that had been in my mind since I read about human life in class 2 got finally answered। I always wondered,” how are humans different from animals? We both are just multicellular organisms who have the same sensations and physical needs. We both are driven by same desires of food, water, air & sexual needs. We both are afraid of death and pain. We have everything common, except that probably Homo Sapiens are a more sophisticated form of life. So are we no different from animals at all?” I remember asking mummy the same question. She said that humans are humans and animals are animals. She said that they are different but her answer couldn’t satisfy me.
After thinking about the issue at various levels of consciousness, I arrived at the same conclusion that Descartes did in the 17th century. Cogito, Ergo Sum. Obviously I was blissfully unaware of the exact meaning and originator of the phrase at that time. However I realized that the ‘desire to learn, the wish to improve and the zeal to know’ are the central reason that humans are different from animals. And I think that when I was in my early teens, this answer dictated the manner in which I saw education ad learning. I think this, coupled with another incident, transformed me from a back bencher and last rankers in school to the topper in board exams. (The first time that I stood first or even amongst the top 5 in class was in boards exams, 1999)
The principle was simple। I decided that I shall leave no stone unturned in the persual of education. I wanted to know more about this world. About everything. I wanted to know about science. How the solar system was created? How does the human body work? How are colors created? I wanted to know about history. How are nations made? Why does a country succeed or fail? Who created the beautiful monuments? Who went to war with whom? I wanted to know about philosophy. About relations, about literature, about each and every damn idea, tangible/intangible thing. And to accomplish this I started reading. I read EVERYTHING. From comics to newspapers to hand outs to posters on walls to even government reports and legal cases files (in revenue board’s library). And still I wanted to read more.
People would get bored in engineering classes. They would say,” क्या फालतू कि चीज़ है engineering? कितनी boring है !” Sometimes I found things tough (GD/AECD) but NEVER did I found them boring। I used to ask each and every doubt that crossed my mind in class, however Naïve or foolish it might sound to others। I participated in almost all extra curricular activities. I made innumerate friends. I tasted wine from so so many cups.
Then I came to MBA। Those classes that interested me, I attended them by sitting on the first bench. And so many things interested me. I liked statistics, QMDM, Economics, Saikat’s Marketing, ITO, and ITL amongst others. And then when I had finished with them, I would sit with the juniors to attend their courses. I even took some marketing classes. None of them gave me any marks. None of them show on my mark sheet. But I think in the persual of knowledge, I learnt even more.
My Montage (people write things about their classmates at the end of MBA course) says, “No one knows what he wants. Not he and not even God. Believes in networking only with great people”. I smile. Probably only I amongst my classmates know what I want, right from the time when I was 14 years old.
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