So how's Investment banking?

"so how's IB going for ya?", asks one of my Juniors at school. That makes me think. And that makes me blog :)



Its not that IB image that people usually associate with. Not only for my group but also for the other verticals like M&A & OAG , life's very very different from the typical image that's fed to callow minds. We do NOT wear ties/suits, we do NOT work 16 hours a day, People are NOT mean (they're nice actually), i have windows 2000 on my PC, Not every group has MS office installed(they work with OpenOffice) and most of the time goes for regular maintenance work. May be because its the worst time for IB, i dont know. I think a reality check is necessary for anybody aiming at a career in IB.



Whatever be the current scenario, I'm really happy with my Boss, Collegues and others at my workplace. My team is extremely supportive and well knit. We're a group of 6+1 people, (used to be 9+1 -- 3 months back) and anybody can talk to anybody abt anything. Whenever i am in doubt, i can bug Vittal, Vinay,Lale or others - all who shall listen and genuinely try to help me out. I really don't know how many times do i daily seek lale's comments. At the same time i can share all jokes with Jha sahab & Ami. The only catch is that most of the time I'm the joke, something that i've got used to and don't feel bad about at all.


--- had written a big post but nt disconnected and now am too tired to type it again-- good night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

तेनु काला चछ्मा...

"तेनु काला चछ्मा जचदा ऐ, जचदा ऐ ने गोरे मुखड़े ते " (black goggles suit you, whose face is of whitish hue) was the first Punjabi song that I heard at PEC shivalik hostel in first semester. For the Rajasthan bred me, all such songs sounded the same with loud beats and arcane lyrics in a language that could as well have been Greek. But no sir, this song was a sensation at PEC with all daaru parties blaring it on their cheap 1000 Rs music systems. Amit ‘Rao’ and me used to sing and dance(?) to the immortal “गिद्दे विच नचदी नारे नि ( She doesn’t dance with me at party)” after jogging at CCA ground near kurukshetra hostel. We ridiculed and loved Punjabi songs at the same time. We loved their beats and hated their words, because A) we didn’t understand them and B) we didn’t want to understand them. I was to find it out only in 3rd year that my favorite beats were actually lifted from ‘here comes the hotstepper’ , ‘gangsta’s paradise, ’, & ‘we will rock you’ amongst others.

Nonetheless, and as it happens with most things, I started to enjoy the songs that everybody around me liked. Arguably the best amongst them were kala chachma (it isn’t a spelling mistake, they pronounce it as chuch-ma) & आजा नि आजा , both by amar arshi। In every dance party at a disc, it wasn’t my Punjabi friends but rather me who used to pester the DJ for playing out these songs. And by 3rd year I was fluent in karaoke-ing them during my 2nd hand smoke-daaru-shiny disco lights induced stupor. And so was rao. Avneet Singh on the other hand used to sing Punjabi songs with a very very innovative style by mixing/confusing them with English ones. I still remember him mixing ‘escape’ and ‘let the music play’. It was a umm, well, ahhh॥ a unique genre that only avneet could have produced. You’re amazing, Yadav Ji!

Even though I loved these songs, I could never find their videos – no one in PEC had them. IIFT mein to no one even listened to them, so trying to find them would be a futile exercise I didn’t commit. However yesterday night I found it on YouTube – amar arshi’s videos of ‘aaja ni aaja’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze6Bmsm4WTI ) and ‘tenu kaala chachma’(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBFRIFYwJo). And sir ji I was left speechless!!! I could never have imagined that such a great songs will have, so to say, such a FUDDU video. I mean was he out of his mind when he casted that fat aunty in tenu.? And why is that idiotic DJ suddenly dancing in mid of the song on ‘something like a phenomena’? And what are those bhangra dancers for in kala chachma? What are the 3 girls doing in aaja ni? Bloody they could have atleast afforded better glasses than the 20 Rs plastic goggles that children wear in birthday parties!! And finally, why would someone produce such a shabby video at all? Shit man! Down the gutter goes one of my fav memories of PEC :(
Watch them, at least you might have a laugh.

गुफ्तगू

इधर बहुत दिनों से मैंने हिन्दी में कोई post नही likhi । इसके दो कारण थे। पहला to ये कि मेरे कंप्यूटर मैं हिन्दी का कोई font installed नही है, और दूसरा ये कि नेट cafe पे जाके लिखने का मेरा मनन नही करता। लिखना चीज़ ही ऐसी है, कभी कभी जब मन करता है तो मैं एक दिन मे 3 post लिख देता हूँ, कभी 3 महीने गुज़र जाते हैं बिना कुछ दिल में आए । ऊपर से जब तक कुछ पूरे दिल से न करू , तो आनंद नही रहता उसे करने का।
खैर, दिल्ली छोड़ के अब मुंबई आ गया हूँ। नई जॉब शुरू हो गयी है 3 महीने पहले। salary मिलने लगी है और उसे उडाने भी लग गया हूँ। ICICI मैं खुश हूँ मैं... दोस्त अच्छे हैं, बॉस अच्छे हैं, साथ मैं काम करने वाले लोग अच्छे हैं, और भई काम bh ठीक ही है। जब पूरे बैंक के पास ही काम नही है, तो अपने dept को क्यूँ गाली दूँ?

पिछले ३ महीने मैं सर्वाधिक आनंद आया जब मैं चेन्नई गया IFMR training करने। training to क्या थी साहब बस ऐश ही ऐश मारी थी वहां पे। नए लोग मिले जो सभी मस्ती मारने ही आए थे, तो मित्रता तो होनी ही थी। यहीं पर मैं रिपुल , विरल , मानसी और वृंदा से मिला जिनके साथ मेरा अक्सर समय बीतता है अब।

बाकी बातें बाद में, अभी तो सोना है।

i'm happy!

I'm happy, really happy after a long time - and it isn't the smirnoff, its my heart that makes this statement.

"I'm mesmerized in every way,
you keep me in a state of daze,
and i soar like a bird in the wind
oh i glide as if flying through heaven.
Sugar you make my soul complete,
Rapture tastes so sweet!!!!"
~ rapture , lio