The week was good - covered 4 restaurants, 3 being first visit and one a revision. The weekend was particularly good.
Vrindavan, Woodlands , R k Salai , Mylapore - This one is a pure veg multi cuisine restaurant with a very good ambience. The place has many beautiful paintings of Krishna and the different aspects of his life , thus justifying the name. The soup and starters were good. I assume roti/naan cannot be murdered by any one but the side dishes can surely be and that is what happened. We ordered kadai paneer , and thanks to the overdose of capsicum it was almost kadai capsicum. Thankfully the finale was good - veg pulao and raita both were good. I have read / heard that the desserts are also good there, but couldn't check it out. Overall a nice place. A 3-course meal for two should cost around 500.
Breakfast buffet, Savera, Just beside the above hotel - This is a 4 star hotel . The dinner buffet was a total disaster, especially because of the high cost (Close to 400 per head) , had very few items, not so great taste and limited desserts. I am actually kind of saturated with these grand buffets. There is absolutely no enthu at all. However, the breakfast buffet turned out to be really good, the high cost notwithstanding (200 per head) . I suppose the extra psychological satisfaction was due to the absence of any burden on my wallet . Idli, Vada,Pongal,Masala and Plain Dosa, Paratha-pickle-raita, fruit juices, toast, coffee and a plethora of non veg dishes. I did full justice. Ideally go on a weekend around 9-30 am thulp for about 45 min, go home and and crash. You can peacefully skip lunch. It was better than the breakfast buffet at GRT , which I think was the last wing treat last year just before our Kerala trip.
Mathsya , Near Hindi Prachar Sabha, T Nagar - Another good restaurant with a buffet option. We had a lunch buffet , it was not the grand GRT level but a thoroughly satisfying one . The items were limited, tasty and not very costly. ( 150 per head). Strongly recommended. It gets pretty crowded by 1-30 on weekends, so better to go early. I went there on my friend C2's 200 cc red beast - Bajaj Avenger. It scorched the roads on a scorching afternoon. It surely was a head turner, but then I was strongly dissuaded from owning one. Looks like Pulsar it is by July-August.
Cream Center, Near Park Sheraton, R A Puram - A 10 min walk from Park Sheraton , situated amidst greenery, this one was the icing on the cake. One of the best places in Chennai, and of course that comes with a price. It is damn expensive. Continuing the legacy of wing treats (a gang of 8-10 for some job treat), this time I went with the dear old Alak hostel wing guys. We caught the 5C and reached there @ 3 bucks per head. Totally wonderful I say. I get a great sense of accomplishment when I do not use these lousy autos. In fact I am trying my best to avoid it as much as possible. The restaurant is in a house, much like the Mocha joints. The menu was damn impressive - it literally covers all genres, albeit with limited items. It is very similar to New Yorker in my soon to be area Nungambakkam opp Hotel Park, but notches higher. This surely will have a few revisions soon. Very strongly recommended. The only warning-A proper meal for 2 will cost a cool 700 !
Btw, I just realised all the above were treats. Wow ! That aside, I am totally in love with the Alwarpet-R A Puram-Mylapore and surrounding areas. R A Puram has a thick green cover and I would love to take a furnished 2 BHK apartment there. That will cost just about 25-30k per month. A 100% hike in my salary might allow me that, till then let me keep dreaming :)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
SING LIKE NO ONE IS HEARING
I will try a Mani Ratnam type post. So, lights off, minimal dialogues, (x,y,z,t) etc. Unfortunately no first night description (It is seen in almost every movie of his)
1996 , Hyderabad - I was inducted into Carnatic music classes . This was despite my infinite resistance and refusal. I couldn't even bunk because the teacher was just a few metres away and had to go with my sister. I totally despised it. Also, since it was in the evenings 5-7 types I had to miss my daily gully cricket session. It was a total torture. And the teacher's constant praises about my ability to sing high pitched tones , esp to my grandpa made matters worse. I certainly contest those praises and I strongly feel she had ulterior motives - retention strategies. So I had no reason whatsoever to avoid the classes . In hindsight I think I did a decent job, surely not the way she used the retention- strategies-accolades , but fair enough. It went on for a full year. An epic struggle bordering on the lines of 1857-1947 level freedom fight occurred at home and my August 15th was sometime in the beginning of 7th grade in July ,1997.
1996 , 31st Dec - I think Sandeep and I won/ were runners up in some Antakshari competition conducted in the colony.
1999 , Hyderabad- Some arbit singing stuff in classroom where every student had to sing. I think I sang "Woh Pehli baar" from some Dino Morea / Rinkie Khanna campus movie. Praise from teacher again, as usual that was surely because those were the days when we were the oiled hair- notes writing-shiny teeth-goodie goodie children.
2003,Alak hostel,IITM - There was this pain max lit sec who used to sing at the drop of a hat at every hostel function. Function is an overstatement,he used to croon at any place which had more than 5 guys assembled. He had organised Antakshari in the hostel and I teamed up with 2 northie guys. I think we qualified for the inter hostel finals but some senior funda thing and we were not able to participate in the finals.
2008, Pongal, Hyderabad - I met the aforesaid paatu teacher after eons. The usual oh-my-god-so thin-so dark level reaction aside , she asked me if I had any enthu in music. She lamented about how she lost a super student with great voice , grasping blah blah. In reality the grief was out of the 100 per month *12 rupees she lost since 97 , consider inflation and make it 250*12 in 2006 , assuming I would have continued for 10 years like my sis. One other reason why I presumed she showered encomiums then was that she found a potential son-in-law in me. I have to admit though that her daughter is a perfect Tam beauty. Tall, fair, very beautiful, sings well, studies well etc. Ok, tall is not a desired credential in my case and I had to strike off a potential candidate from my list when she came home recently as I found her a full 1 inch taller. Really sad ! Anyways as an elderly advice she told me to restart singing, which for a change I feel was genuine and devoid of monetary undercurrents as she knew there was no way I could go to her. Atleast try singing filmi stuff , she said. Yeah, as if A R Rahman is waiting for me.
2008 , Saarang ,LM pro show, IITM - I totally fell in love with Karthik , the voice behind "Girlfriend"in Boys, "Oru Malai" in Ghajini, "Unnale unnale" and many hit numbers in Run,New (nani in telugu) etc. I rushed to my room, checked Wiki and downloaded almost all of his songs.
So this is the background. My mom and sis are huge music rasikas. Inadvertently I have some knowledge of carnatic music, singers, marriage songs etc. Advertently have always had a huge passion for desi filmi music though it was never apparent. I am a total devotee of A R rahman (a) , huge huge fan of Harris Jeyaraj (b) , Karthik, Sonu Nigam, Unnikrishnan, SPB, Hariharan (c) Harini,Shreya Goshal, Aruna sairam (d) and any song involving a-c-d or b-c-d combo. Tam-Gult-Hindi music blares 24*7 from my system , though these days it is strictly Tamil. I actually,really think I am a good bathroom singer and repenting now for having fought for my August 15th then ( and of course missing ogling at the then shorter than me beauty) . Music is a great hobby and de-stresser and singing some Rahman song at some public place with >=50 members now figures in my things-to-do-before-i-die.
I now seriously want to learn music and sing, but strictly no Carnatic stuff. I have infinite free time now. Any suggestions ? For starters, I am practicing Unnale Unnale with lyrics and might soon inflict torture on you guys by posting it here :)
1996 , Hyderabad - I was inducted into Carnatic music classes . This was despite my infinite resistance and refusal. I couldn't even bunk because the teacher was just a few metres away and had to go with my sister. I totally despised it. Also, since it was in the evenings 5-7 types I had to miss my daily gully cricket session. It was a total torture. And the teacher's constant praises about my ability to sing high pitched tones , esp to my grandpa made matters worse. I certainly contest those praises and I strongly feel she had ulterior motives - retention strategies. So I had no reason whatsoever to avoid the classes . In hindsight I think I did a decent job, surely not the way she used the retention- strategies-accolades , but fair enough. It went on for a full year. An epic struggle bordering on the lines of 1857-1947 level freedom fight occurred at home and my August 15th was sometime in the beginning of 7th grade in July ,1997.
1996 , 31st Dec - I think Sandeep and I won/ were runners up in some Antakshari competition conducted in the colony.
1999 , Hyderabad- Some arbit singing stuff in classroom where every student had to sing. I think I sang "Woh Pehli baar" from some Dino Morea / Rinkie Khanna campus movie. Praise from teacher again, as usual that was surely because those were the days when we were the oiled hair- notes writing-shiny teeth-goodie goodie children.
2003,Alak hostel,IITM - There was this pain max lit sec who used to sing at the drop of a hat at every hostel function. Function is an overstatement,he used to croon at any place which had more than 5 guys assembled. He had organised Antakshari in the hostel and I teamed up with 2 northie guys. I think we qualified for the inter hostel finals but some senior funda thing and we were not able to participate in the finals.
2008, Pongal, Hyderabad - I met the aforesaid paatu teacher after eons. The usual oh-my-god-so thin-so dark level reaction aside , she asked me if I had any enthu in music. She lamented about how she lost a super student with great voice , grasping blah blah. In reality the grief was out of the 100 per month *12 rupees she lost since 97 , consider inflation and make it 250*12 in 2006 , assuming I would have continued for 10 years like my sis. One other reason why I presumed she showered encomiums then was that she found a potential son-in-law in me. I have to admit though that her daughter is a perfect Tam beauty. Tall, fair, very beautiful, sings well, studies well etc. Ok, tall is not a desired credential in my case and I had to strike off a potential candidate from my list when she came home recently as I found her a full 1 inch taller. Really sad ! Anyways as an elderly advice she told me to restart singing, which for a change I feel was genuine and devoid of monetary undercurrents as she knew there was no way I could go to her. Atleast try singing filmi stuff , she said. Yeah, as if A R Rahman is waiting for me.
2008 , Saarang ,LM pro show, IITM - I totally fell in love with Karthik , the voice behind "Girlfriend"in Boys, "Oru Malai" in Ghajini, "Unnale unnale" and many hit numbers in Run,New (nani in telugu) etc. I rushed to my room, checked Wiki and downloaded almost all of his songs.
So this is the background. My mom and sis are huge music rasikas. Inadvertently I have some knowledge of carnatic music, singers, marriage songs etc. Advertently have always had a huge passion for desi filmi music though it was never apparent. I am a total devotee of A R rahman (a) , huge huge fan of Harris Jeyaraj (b) , Karthik, Sonu Nigam, Unnikrishnan, SPB, Hariharan (c) Harini,Shreya Goshal, Aruna sairam (d) and any song involving a-c-d or b-c-d combo. Tam-Gult-Hindi music blares 24*7 from my system , though these days it is strictly Tamil. I actually,really think I am a good bathroom singer and repenting now for having fought for my August 15th then ( and of course missing ogling at the then shorter than me beauty) . Music is a great hobby and de-stresser and singing some Rahman song at some public place with >=50 members now figures in my things-to-do-before-i-die.
I now seriously want to learn music and sing, but strictly no Carnatic stuff. I have infinite free time now. Any suggestions ? For starters, I am practicing Unnale Unnale with lyrics and might soon inflict torture on you guys by posting it here :)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
SPELLINGS
This dates back to my 1st year. A Hyd friend of mine , a very keen observer, asked me about the so called strange spellings in Chennai. That guy's only exposure had been the central-iitm route and it was just the 1st week here. He asked me why "h" is always missing in the spellings here. As in, he said from what he knew and saw, it is Bhaskar, not Baskar. It is Paav-Bhaaji and not paav-baaji. Abhirami and not Abirami. I can come up with many more. I tried explaining that they are directly translating from the Tam script which does not have the ta, tha, ba, bha, type like in Telugu or Hindi . It is just a "pa" for pa,ba and bha. Similarly "ta" for ta, tha, dha etc. He then went on to ask why it is like that and wont we get confused while reading it . Almost every regional language has the bha,tha,dha type in script but not Tamil.
In the same week, a northie friend cribbed that Southies always use an extra "h". He saw this after seeing the hostels named Sarawathi, Sharavathi and girls being spelled Anitha , Kavitha whatever. His contention was that it is Anita,Sarawwati,Kavita as that is how it is written in Hindi. A recent one being Ram Setu and not Ram Sethu.
Another crib of his was that Southies pronounce h as "heych" while it should be "etch".
Any explanations ?
In the same week, a northie friend cribbed that Southies always use an extra "h". He saw this after seeing the hostels named Sarawathi, Sharavathi and girls being spelled Anitha , Kavitha whatever. His contention was that it is Anita,Sarawwati,Kavita as that is how it is written in Hindi. A recent one being Ram Setu and not Ram Sethu.
Another crib of his was that Southies pronounce h as "heych" while it should be "etch".
Any explanations ?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
COVER DRIVE :(
I just don't get it . I have been playing quality cricket with the leather ball since 2003 (post JEE) and have not mastered it, err even got it right once. I am able to score in the V like a Shoaib Malik consistently but never in the covers. Like the Hyderabadis love affair with flick, I think I can flick/leg glance pretty peacefully though I miss out many on-drives by trying to flick every ball even marginally on the leg and getting hit on pads. This again is because I dont bend and find flick easier than bending, moving my feet and scoring. Is my inability to bend a manufacturing defect? :(
If it is between cover and point I generally tend to hit it in the air and have gotten out to a catch in point or cover point twice . I just cant get the ball to go along the ground in this region. I am able to score between cover and mid off though. Even if the ball is pitched short I try a back foot drive through covers instead of waiting for it and cutting it. One reason pointed out was that I dont wait for the ball , hence missing out on juicy cut shots which are very fruitful. Another strongest reason was that I do not bend at all and have very minimal footwork.
A suggested remedy by a stud max batsman from my team (Karthik Naib)was to do this.Take a leg stick guard, as soon as the ball is about to be delivered concentrate on the bowlers hand, move your back foot to a small extent towards the off stump, and take a back lift simultaneously. This will get your feet moving and give you some extra time to play the ball. After that focus only on the ball and watch it till it leaves your bat. I dont watch the ball till the last moment though. As in, when you are hitting the ball you should see the ball where as I see where I intend to place the ball thereby not bending my head. I started watching our batsman. Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly take a small step back with a back lift as mentioned by Naib whereas surprisingly Sachin hardly moves his back foot, and on the contrary sometimes pulls off his front foot also and on many occasions moves from leg to off in the same line but not back. Anyway, I cant replicate him, but would like to ask you guys the funda for a proper full blooded cover drive with a Yuvi level thud sound which should unnerve the bowler. I have a match this Saturday, and my last tryst with cricket surely in the near future. I would like to end it on a high note . Fundaes , please !
Btw check out cricket on wiki.
Friday, January 04, 2008
GEN
Gen want to post something. I do not have any specific topic in mind though. I guess some random updates will do for now.
Taare Zameen Par totally rocks .It is a bit slow, but I felt it was necessary to effectively drive home the child's psyche. A sure tear - jerker movie, and that makes it the second privileged movie for which my eyes became moist after Black. Aamir are gawd only - he was successful in making my eyes moist ! Another decent movie was Scorcese's Good Fellas , a totally gangster movie with taut story and screenplay, though I would certainly contest its position in the top 20.
Dec 31st 2007 was one of the quietest New Years Eve I have had in recent times. Last year was maajar fun in ECR. Out of that gumbal of 10 odd only 2 are left in Chennai , thanks to whom I am pulling on here and without whom it would have been miserable .Only one guy (PK ) was with me on 31st and it was kinda nostalgic when we relived those moments - a planned surprise treat extraction at an expensive resort , crashing on Bessie Beach and footer at 3 am. Also , on the same day I got the 7th sem results and my highest GPA in my stay at IITM helping increase my overall CGPA significantly ( which later proved to be amazingly fruitful as Scope International had a 7.5 CGPA cut-off, but not explicitly mentioned). Though it was not much of an achievement given the extremely small number of students, it was a very satisfactory accomplishment from a personal perspective . I just had a late dinner with PK and a couple of other guys and was having my usual midnight coffee . I received one sms at 12 and one call while the other guys seemed very busy with their cell phone keypads , the sound of which makes my mom call it paen sudukardhu (knocking the lice) . They seemed to be answering calls and replying non stop while I was just watching them. This prompted a wise crack - People like us much more than you, hence the messages . They were made to eat their words the next day. My calls number and duration peacefully outnumbered theirs. Continuing my trend of a temple visit on Jan 1st , I visited the Kesava Perumal Koil in Mylapore .
I have almost become a social recluse now.Wing fart sessions are totally defunct . And my project is still amorphous. This is really dangerous with mid-term review on 11th. I hope my good relations with my Prof will save me from an extension , because if I were to be in the panel I would have given an extension to the student with this low progress . Anyway, lets see what happens. The time-tested method of meeting the prof daily wil surely be followed now. I have exactly one course this semester. HS dept has introduced a new course Carnatic Music with a prof from Madras University. Totally strong. I guess it will be purely theoretical as practicals do not seem practical. My mom will be totally ecstatic if I enroll for that course, but since when have we been such obedient children. I will decide after a good look at the courses across all the departments as this is a free elective.
I am putting a Hyd-Tirupati trip on 12th followed by my cousin's engagement on 20th. Totally looking forward to 12th. For now, saving extension is the only thing in my mind.
Taare Zameen Par totally rocks .It is a bit slow, but I felt it was necessary to effectively drive home the child's psyche. A sure tear - jerker movie, and that makes it the second privileged movie for which my eyes became moist after Black. Aamir are gawd only - he was successful in making my eyes moist ! Another decent movie was Scorcese's Good Fellas , a totally gangster movie with taut story and screenplay, though I would certainly contest its position in the top 20.
Dec 31st 2007 was one of the quietest New Years Eve I have had in recent times. Last year was maajar fun in ECR. Out of that gumbal of 10 odd only 2 are left in Chennai , thanks to whom I am pulling on here and without whom it would have been miserable .Only one guy (PK ) was with me on 31st and it was kinda nostalgic when we relived those moments - a planned surprise treat extraction at an expensive resort , crashing on Bessie Beach and footer at 3 am. Also , on the same day I got the 7th sem results and my highest GPA in my stay at IITM helping increase my overall CGPA significantly ( which later proved to be amazingly fruitful as Scope International had a 7.5 CGPA cut-off, but not explicitly mentioned). Though it was not much of an achievement given the extremely small number of students, it was a very satisfactory accomplishment from a personal perspective . I just had a late dinner with PK and a couple of other guys and was having my usual midnight coffee . I received one sms at 12 and one call while the other guys seemed very busy with their cell phone keypads , the sound of which makes my mom call it paen sudukardhu (knocking the lice) . They seemed to be answering calls and replying non stop while I was just watching them. This prompted a wise crack - People like us much more than you, hence the messages . They were made to eat their words the next day. My calls number and duration peacefully outnumbered theirs. Continuing my trend of a temple visit on Jan 1st , I visited the Kesava Perumal Koil in Mylapore .
I have almost become a social recluse now.Wing fart sessions are totally defunct . And my project is still amorphous. This is really dangerous with mid-term review on 11th. I hope my good relations with my Prof will save me from an extension , because if I were to be in the panel I would have given an extension to the student with this low progress . Anyway, lets see what happens. The time-tested method of meeting the prof daily wil surely be followed now. I have exactly one course this semester. HS dept has introduced a new course Carnatic Music with a prof from Madras University. Totally strong. I guess it will be purely theoretical as practicals do not seem practical. My mom will be totally ecstatic if I enroll for that course, but since when have we been such obedient children. I will decide after a good look at the courses across all the departments as this is a free elective.
I am putting a Hyd-Tirupati trip on 12th followed by my cousin's engagement on 20th. Totally looking forward to 12th. For now, saving extension is the only thing in my mind.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
THE WEEK THAT WASN'T
Is a show aired on CNN-IBN , anchored by the veritable bakra , Cyrus Broacha. The post Diwali episode , which I saw recently was damn hilarious. The first digs at IPL. The likes of I-dont-know-which Ambani , I-will-have-bikini-babes always Mallya, Sallu-I-too-have-a-six pack SRK , Hollywood stars etc have evinced keen interest on owning the clubs . The latest news is that even EPL owners want to have a bite of IPL .That is interesting news. Cyrus gives us a few other bidders who have tremendous enthu but have a few riders and conditions.
Pervez Musharaff is bidding for ?
The one where everyone is in military uniform.
Aamir Khan-
All the players rehearse 12 times before the match and should always interfere with the captain.
Farah Khan -
As long as all the players have a retro and a gay appeal. Like floral decorations on pads, pink uniform etc
Sanjay Leela Bhansali -
As long as all the players wear shades , strictly black or blue. Monochromatic cricket.
Laloo Prasad -
Only if I can have my children. I have ten now, fighting for the eleventh.
Ram Gopal Varma-
As long as I can remake the "The great Indian squad that won the WC in 1983"
SRK -
Only if I can get the weakest , least successful team, the underdogs. However, effeminate guys with six pack will be preferred . He will call his team - Saawariya
Amitabh Bacchan-
If I can feature in every ad between the overs.
Karunanidhi -
Only if there is Tamizh commentary , rational tamizh players, names in tamizh, ads in tamizh with frequent doses of anti Hindi, anti English, anti God.
Pervez Musharaff is bidding for ?
The one where everyone is in military uniform.
Aamir Khan-
All the players rehearse 12 times before the match and should always interfere with the captain.
Farah Khan -
As long as all the players have a retro and a gay appeal. Like floral decorations on pads, pink uniform etc
Sanjay Leela Bhansali -
As long as all the players wear shades , strictly black or blue. Monochromatic cricket.
Laloo Prasad -
Only if I can have my children. I have ten now, fighting for the eleventh.
Ram Gopal Varma-
As long as I can remake the "The great Indian squad that won the WC in 1983"
SRK -
Only if I can get the weakest , least successful team, the underdogs. However, effeminate guys with six pack will be preferred . He will call his team - Saawariya
Amitabh Bacchan-
If I can feature in every ad between the overs.
Karunanidhi -
Only if there is Tamizh commentary , rational tamizh players, names in tamizh, ads in tamizh with frequent doses of anti Hindi, anti English, anti God.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
SCOPE INTERNATIONAL :)
Phew !! Finally I feel so relieved . Words cannot do justice to the amount of happiness , relief and joy I have now. Euphoric would be an understatement for the kind of state I am in. I would rate this higher than JEE ,thats because I was confident of cracking it. But, I was in a total depression now after screwing up CAT - resulting in a feeling that I am analytically challenged and reject after reject in the 1st 3 days. Like Sisyphus who continued to roll the stone up , very well knowing that it would roll down the other side of the hill, I continued filling up infinite forms, writing the tests, waiting eagerly and the inevitable reject. I cannot agree more with Kesavan's (Baada) words after he got his job - Hajaar, no, lakhs of money are there. I am elated and excited, probably have not been this much since post JEE. Dad is impressed, mom had never heard of the company, but is of course extremely happy. And I am sure junta here are slightly syked and surprised by this turn of events, especially given my worst level CG here.
My mom's initial reaction was "Oh no not another banker in the family !". Thing is there are too many people in banks in our family and extended families . I suppose her apprehension was short-lived after further impressive details from my side. Dad is yet to digest it ! Many do not seem to be knowing Scope International, so I prefer saying I got placed with Standard Chartered Bank as Scope is a subsidiary of SCB.
There were 5 rounds - 2 online tests, 3 250 word essays, 1 GD and a final interview. A pain maxx psychometric test took 2 hrs, a quant test 1hr. After that the 1st s/l of 80 guys was put up just yesterday night and today morn was my GD. I went in with zilch expectations because the PPT said we would be having a tech and HR interview after the GD .In the tech part, analytics and coding, both would be tested. I thought pack,I dont even know the syntax of printf or what include meant. Lets do the GD and get a feel of it.Thats all.This was my first GD.
The first lucky aspect was a mild group with no sood putters. GD was peaceful. He wanted our views on Next Gen banking. I started off very arbitly, my points not being very well received. A weird point by one guy was the driving force for me. I blasted him, diplomatically of course, and from then it was very strong. Someone suggested grassroot banking and I came up with sood points ,using jargon which not everyone was well versed with ,like microfinancing andNobel Prize for Grameen bank, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)- educating farmers and giving them loans would be a win-win situation, thinking on the lines of NREGA in banking for rural areas and all that. I am sure the moderator was perplexed. Junta in the group were talking about gadgetry, fingerprints, eye detection, security, a new 3rd form of virtual money this that blah blah and I was totally tangential , talking irrelevant stuff like microfin , upgrading PSUs, and crap in all forms. 4 from each group were shortlisted. I felt I would have been screwed had it been 3 , because there were 3 guys better than me.
Then followed the interview. Again luckily, the same mod was the interviewer. As soon as I walked in, he recognized me and asked me if I was Rajeev. That was really heartening. I was kinda prepared for HR , so it was a cakewalk. More so, because he was very friendly. I felt that it was a travesty of an interview. It was like a conversation in a pub between 2 strangers. Not an iota of C, not a speck of tech !! HR, unadulterated. Finally, when he was through, he told me that my GD performance was excellent. I had a flicker of hope then. And finally I get the news. The profile says Business Analyst , the way I see it, it is more of coding with a full knowledge of banking operations.
The training as of now will be in Nungambakkam. With MOP Vaishnav, Ethiraj, WCC, Stella all nearby I can look forward to some eye candy now after 5 years in this place. It is also a shopping hub and has many good restaurants and is in the heart of Chennai, so no cribs as of now. With no other branch in India, I will surely be here for the next 2-3 years. Room mates are already taken care of, a couple of my dear old Btech wing mates who are with Covansys here. This is again something which I really look forward to , as I badly need a frequency matching social life.
I only need to meet my prof to kill this euphoria. He has told my fellow Mtechs that all Duals under him are on the verge of getting an extension and a couple of guys have already called me up saying prof is seething with rage and I need to meet him once. I am about to leave now , will cook up some story on the way.
For a change, after years of mediocrity, I am proud of myself .
My mom's initial reaction was "Oh no not another banker in the family !". Thing is there are too many people in banks in our family and extended families . I suppose her apprehension was short-lived after further impressive details from my side. Dad is yet to digest it ! Many do not seem to be knowing Scope International, so I prefer saying I got placed with Standard Chartered Bank as Scope is a subsidiary of SCB.
There were 5 rounds - 2 online tests, 3 250 word essays, 1 GD and a final interview. A pain maxx psychometric test took 2 hrs, a quant test 1hr. After that the 1st s/l of 80 guys was put up just yesterday night and today morn was my GD. I went in with zilch expectations because the PPT said we would be having a tech and HR interview after the GD .In the tech part, analytics and coding, both would be tested. I thought pack,I dont even know the syntax of printf or what include
The first lucky aspect was a mild group with no sood putters. GD was peaceful. He wanted our views on Next Gen banking. I started off very arbitly, my points not being very well received. A weird point by one guy was the driving force for me. I blasted him, diplomatically of course, and from then it was very strong. Someone suggested grassroot banking and I came up with sood points ,using jargon which not everyone was well versed with ,like microfinancing andNobel Prize for Grameen bank, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)- educating farmers and giving them loans would be a win-win situation, thinking on the lines of NREGA in banking for rural areas and all that. I am sure the moderator was perplexed. Junta in the group were talking about gadgetry, fingerprints, eye detection, security, a new 3rd form of virtual money this that blah blah and I was totally tangential , talking irrelevant stuff like microfin , upgrading PSUs, and crap in all forms. 4 from each group were shortlisted. I felt I would have been screwed had it been 3 , because there were 3 guys better than me.
Then followed the interview. Again luckily, the same mod was the interviewer. As soon as I walked in, he recognized me and asked me if I was Rajeev. That was really heartening. I was kinda prepared for HR , so it was a cakewalk. More so, because he was very friendly. I felt that it was a travesty of an interview. It was like a conversation in a pub between 2 strangers. Not an iota of C, not a speck of tech !! HR, unadulterated. Finally, when he was through, he told me that my GD performance was excellent. I had a flicker of hope then. And finally I get the news. The profile says Business Analyst , the way I see it, it is more of coding with a full knowledge of banking operations.
The training as of now will be in Nungambakkam. With MOP Vaishnav, Ethiraj, WCC, Stella all nearby I can look forward to some eye candy now after 5 years in this place. It is also a shopping hub and has many good restaurants and is in the heart of Chennai, so no cribs as of now. With no other branch in India, I will surely be here for the next 2-3 years. Room mates are already taken care of, a couple of my dear old Btech wing mates who are with Covansys here. This is again something which I really look forward to , as I badly need a frequency matching social life.
I only need to meet my prof to kill this euphoria. He has told my fellow Mtechs that all Duals under him are on the verge of getting an extension and a couple of guys have already called me up saying prof is seething with rage and I need to meet him once. I am about to leave now , will cook up some story on the way.
For a change, after years of mediocrity, I am proud of myself .
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